She received her B.S. degree in Dairy Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1976, and both her M.S. in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1986 in Animal Science-Reproductive Physiology from Oregon State University. Dr. Zelinski has also conducted reproductive research in the Department of Physiology at the University of California at Davis and then came to ONPRC in 1987 as a Lalor Foundation post-doctoral fellow.