Jean received her BSc in Honours Botany from UBC in 1966. After having raised a family, she received her PhD in Botany from the University of Guelph in 1988. She joined the biology faculty of the University of Northern Iowa in 1994, where she is a full professor.
As well as the NSERC scholarships and fellowships she was awarded as a student and post-doctoral fellow, she has been awarded the Prem Sahai Distinguished Professorship for meritorious teaching and research, and the Canadian Botanical Association Mary Elliott Award for service to the association.
Offices she has held include Secretary of the Canadian Botanical Association, Chair of the Structure and Development section of the Botanical Society of America, and President of the Iowa Grape Growers Association.
Her research on the grape family will be one of the highlighted presentations next year at the International Botanical Congress in Vienna.
