Susan D. Jones

Susan D. Jones serves as a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota, where she bridges historical analysis with ecological and veterinary sciences to examine human-animal-disease relationships across time and cultures.

Her academic foundation includes:

• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Illinois
• Ph.D. in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania (1997)

Prior to her current position, she held faculty appointments at the University of Colorado (Boulder) and conducted research as a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University. Her research centers on the historical ecology of zoonotic diseases through comparative frameworks:

• Cultural history of animal and zoonotic diseases
• Evolution of comparative and veterinary medicine
• Science-mediated human-animal relationships
• Global environmental history (1800-2000)
• Soviet Central Asian bubonic plague borderlands

Professor Jones has earned recognition through:

• Guggenheim Fellowship for historical ecology research
• Fulbright Fellowship supporting transnational disease studies

She actively mentors graduate students in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology program, teaching courses on ecological history, environmentalism, and disease ecology while conducting fieldwork in Central Asia, China, and Austria. Her research integrates indigenous knowledge systems with scientific interpretations to analyze disease ecology transformations in political and cultural contexts.