Jonathan Austad graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Education degree in History and Political Science. His graduate studies took him to Florida State University where he earned a master's degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities. He then completed a doctorate at Florida State University in Interdisciplinary Studies in 2008.
During his graduate studies, Jonathan served as an assistant professor at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska. After completing his Ph.D, Dr. Austad worked as an associate professor of humanities at Eastern Kentucky University. He then accepted a faculty position in the Department of Humanities and Philosophy at BYU-Idaho in 2014.