Professor Gwartney received the A.B. from University of California-Berkeley in 1973 and an M.A. and Ph.D. from University of Michigan in 1979 and 1981, respectively, all in Sociology. She joined the University of Oregon Sociology faculty in 1981, where she rose through the ranks as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Full Professor, and Department Head. In 1986 she was a Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor (Sociology) at University of Auckland (New Zealand). In 2012 she was Adjunct Professor (Statistics) at Pyongyang University of Science & Technology (North Korea), administered by Statistics Without Borders. Between 1992 and 2003 she was Founding Director of the Oregon Survey Research Laboratory, managing 285 projects and about $8 million in grants and contracts. Data and reports from 177 of OSRL's studies are archived with the University Library's Scholar's Bank (https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/996/browse?type=dateissued). She is the elected President of the Pacific Sociological Association for 2014-15.