Marian holds a B.A. in Classics (2002) and an M.A. in Latin (2003) from Columbia University. She entered the Penn Ph.D. program in 2004.

Her dissertation, "Reading and Writing Ancient Battlefields" (Committee: Sheila Murnaghan (director), Cynthia Damon, Emily Wilson), grew out of a desire to answer three related questions: What significance did the ancient Romans attach to a battlefield after the battle was over? What can we learn, from narrative accounts such as those found in Lucan and Tacitus, about the importance of battlefields and battlefield visits in the Roman literary imagination? And to what extent can we find continuity in modern artistic representations of visits to ancient battlefields? To address these questions, she is combining close readings of the literary episodes and broader thematic discussions with historical and archaeological evidence, contemporary studies of tourism and commemoration, and various theoretical approaches (e.g., narratology, reception theory, feminist criticism).