Susan D. Gillespie

Susan D. Gillespie is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She joined UF as an Associate Professor in August 2001, became Associate Department Chair from 2003-2009, and was promoted to full Professor in August 2013. She has held significant leadership positions including President of the Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association (2005-2007) and Member of the AAA Executive Board (2010-2013).

Dr. Gillespie received her Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1983 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her academic career includes positions as Assistant Professor (1983) and Associate Professor (1990) at Illinois State University, and Assistant Professor (1994) and Associate Professor (2000) at the University of Illinois, before joining the University of Florida.

Her research focuses on Mesoamerican archaeology and ethnohistory, with particular expertise in Aztec, Maya, and Olmec civilizations. She specializes in kinship, kingship, and socio-political organization; cosmology and political ideologies; and the anthropology of art and technology. Her methodological approaches integrate archaeological, ethnohistorical, iconographic, and epigraphic evidence with theoretical frameworks from structural, semiotic, and symbolic anthropology.

Dr. Gillespie's publications demonstrate consistent engagement with object itineraries, house society models, personhood, and memory practices across Mesoamerican cultures. Her work connects material culture studies with broader anthropological theory, particularly in examining how objects, architecture, and landscapes embody and transmit social relations and historical consciousness.

She has received prestigious awards including the 1990 Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize for The Aztec Kings, the 2002 Gordon R. Willey Prize, and was named the 2012 Patty Jo Watson Distinguished Lecturer.

• 1990 Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize
• 2002 Gordon R. Willey Prize
• 2012 Patty Jo Watson Distinguished Lecturer

Dr. Gillespie has advised doctoral students including David L. Haskell (2008), Adolfo Ivan Batun Alpuche (2009), Matthew Clay Watson (2010), and Hilary L. Zarin (2010). Her current research includes an Architectural Reconstruction of La Venta Complex A and developing Principles of 21st Century Archaeology, a textbook on contemporary archaeological practice.

She directs research projects examining Mesoamerican monuments, domestic ritual practices, and the political organization of ancient societies through the lens of house societies. Her work with the Register of Professional Archaeologists (certified 2006) demonstrates commitment to professional archaeological standards.