Michael Marissen holds a BA from Calvin College and PhD from Brandeis University. He joined the Swarthmore faculty in 1989 and since then has also been a visiting professor on the graduate faculties at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania.

He taught courses on medieval, renaissance, baroque, and classical European music; Bach; a conceptual introduction to the music of various cultures; Mozart; and the string quartet. His research has been supported by fellowships from agencies in Canada (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council), England (Woolf Institute), Germany (D.A.A.D., and Humboldt Foundation), and the USA (National Endowment for the Humanities, and American Council of Learned Societies).