She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology at Harvard College, a Bachelor of Science degree in natural science education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a PhD in ecology and behavioral biology at the University of Minnesota.[2] Oberhauser is an adjunct professor in the Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology department and former director of the Monarch Lab at the University of Minnesota.[2][3] In October 2017, she became the director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum, in Madison, Wisconsin.