About

Susan D. Gillespie, PhD, RPA, is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida. She joined the faculty as an Associate Professor in August 2001 and was promoted to full professor in August 2013. She has served as Associate Department Chair and has been involved in departmental leadership since 2003, with her current term beginning in 2024. Dr. Gillespie specializes in the archaeology and ethnohistory of Mesoamerica, with a focus on ethnohistorical studies of the Aztec and Maya peoples, as well as iconographic analyses of Mesoamerican artworks. Her archaeological research includes directing projects in Oaxaca and Veracruz, Mexico. She has received several awards, including the Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize from the American Society for Ethnohistory in 1990, the Gordon R. Willey Prize from the American Anthropological Association in 2002, and the Patty Jo Watson Distinguished Lecturer honor in 2012. Dr. Gillespie has also held leadership roles in professional organizations, including serving as President of the Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association from 2005 to 2007 and being elected to the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association from 2010 to 2013. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1983 and has held academic positions at Illinois State University and the University of Illinois prior to her current appointment. Her research emphasizes the cultural and historical contexts of Mesoamerican civilizations, contributing significantly to the understanding of their archaeology and ethnohistory.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Computer Science
• History
• Philosophy
• Geography
• Epistemology

Selected publications

• Blocks, Bricks, and Material Practices of Intersubjectification at Pre-Columbian La Venta, Mexico

  Journal of Anthropological Research · 2025-04-08

  article1st authorCorresponding

  La Venta, a Middle Formative period (ca. 800–400 BC) Olmec regional center on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, is famous for its ritual deposits of thousands of stacked serpentine blocks. These hypertrophic “massive offerings” were treated as evidence for an elite group who controlled this wealth and commanded the labor of countless commoners. The early appearance of social inequality evident by these greenstone objects provides an opportunity to investigate variable processes of subjectification beyond a simple binary of elites and commoners. At La Venta, as elsewhere, certain kinds of subjects manifested themselves as skilled crafters in intersubjectifying relationships with the patrons who consumed their products as well as with other artisans. Applying contemporary theories of subjectivity and materiality allows a more comprehensive understanding of how a category of block-makers emerged in tandem with both political leaders and with the producers of more routine objects with which the blocks were juxtaposed: adobe bricks.

  PublisherDOI

• Place and Person at Pre-Hispanic Teotihuacan, Mexico

  International Journal of Arts Humanities & Social Science · 2024-05-05

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  There are significant societal differences evident in the material remains of the Classic period (ca. AD 250-600) city of Teotihuacan in central Mexico compared to contemporary Maya kingdoms in southern Mexico and Guatemala, despite both being part of the larger Mesoamerican civilization, sharing many cultural features. One proposed explanation for these differences derives from an analytical social science dichotomy that contrasts groups and individuals. According to this approach, Maya art and architecture indicate a society centered on individuals, particularly the rivalrous semi-divine rulers. Teotihuacan’s depersonalized art, lack of royal tombs, and gridded city plan are believed to indicate a corporate ethos in which individuals were subsumed by the societal collective. However, archaeological evidence for these interpretations is not compelling; moreover, the dichotomy itself is misleading. The key to these differences may lie in conceptions of embodied versus emplaced personae. The identity of Teotihuacanos was shaped by living within the city itself, and their concepts of personhood were entwined with their built environment in ways different from their Maya counterparts.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Figure 3 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 3 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Figure 2 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 2 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Figure 4 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 4 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Figure 2 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 2 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Figure 3 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 3 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Figure 1 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 1 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  PublisherDOI

• Data from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  <div>Abstract<p>Past studies have shown that activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) kinase (MEK)/ERK is a common cause for resistance of melanoma cells to death receptor–mediated or mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. We report in this study that inhibition of the MEK/ERK pathway also sensitizes melanoma cells to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced apoptosis, and this is mediated, at least in part, by caspase-4 activation and is associated with inhibition of the ER chaperon glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) expression. Treatment with the ER stress inducer tunicamycin or thapsigargin did not induce significant apoptosis in the majority of melanoma cell lines, but resistance to these agents was reversed by the MEK inhibitor U0126 or MEK1 small interfering RNA (siRNA). Induction of apoptosis by ER stress when MEK was inhibited was caspase dependent with caspase-4, caspase-9, and caspase-3 being involved. Caspase-4 seemed to be the apical caspase in that caspase-4 activation occurred before activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 and that inhibition of caspase-4 by a specific inhibitor or siRNA blocked activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, whereas inhibition of caspase-9 or caspase-3 did not inhibit caspase-4 activation. Moreover, overexpression of Bcl-2 inhibited activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 but had minimal effect on caspase-4 activation. Inhibition of MEK/ERK also resulted in down-regulation of GRP78, which was physically associated with caspase-4, before and after treatment with tunicamycin or thapsigargin. In addition, siRNA knockdown of GRP78 increased ER stress-induced caspase-4 activation and apoptosis. Taken together, these results seem to have important implications for new treatment strategies in melanoma by combinations of agents that induce ER stress and inhibitors of the MEK/ERK pathway. [Cancer Res 2007;67(20):9750–61]</p></div>

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Figure 1 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  2023-03-30

  preprintOpen access

  Supplementary Figure 1 from Inhibition of MEK Sensitizes Human Melanoma Cells to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Xu Dong Zhang

  University of Science and Technology of China

  10 shared

• Kelly A. Kiejda

  10 shared

• Chen Chen Jiang

  10 shared

• Peter Hersey

  Centenary Institute

  10 shared

• Li Hua Chen

  10 shared

• Yu Fang Wang

  10 shared

• Rosemary A. Joyce

  8 shared

• Deborah L. Nichols

  Dartmouth College

  4 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Anthropology

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  1983

• B.S.

  Illinois State University, Normal

Awards & honors

• Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize from the American Society for…
• Gordon R. Willey Prize from the American Anthropological Ass…
• Patty Jo Watson Distinguished Lecturer, American Anthropolog…