In response to the growing concern for animals that is sweeping both academia and applied settings, Michigan State University has implemented several programs and courses in the area of human-animal relationships in order to become a leader in the emerging field of animal studies.
Animal Studies News
November 17, 2009
Linda Kalof and The Animal Studies Program at MSU were highlighted in a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Here's partial text:
At the curricular level, courses with some kind of animal-studies emphasis are popping up almost everywhere, in law schools and in literature departments. But students cannot yet get a Ph.D. in animal studies.
Michigan State University is edging closer. It has had an animal-studies graduate specialization for about a year now. Linda Kalof, a professor of sociology, founded and directs the program. "We are the first doctoral specialization in animal studies anywhere in the world," she says. "We focus primarily on the question of how animals figure in human lives and how humans figure in animal lives, from a social-science and humanities perspective." The program attracts faculty members and students from beyond those areas, too. Professors from the school of veterinary medicine and from the law school take part, as do students from zoology and animal science as well as sociology, anthropology, and American studies.
See the full text here.
First Friday Animal Studies Brown Bag Seminar Schedule
December
December’s First Friday Animal Studies Brown Bag Seminar (December 4, 12-1:30, 6H Berkey) features a discussion of Detroit’s Zoo’s Center for Zoo Animal Welfare lead by Scott Carter, Director of Conservation and Animal Welfare at the Detroit Zoo and Ron Kagan, Executive Director of the Detroit Zoological Society.
January 2010
No Seminar – January’s First Friday is a holiday.
February 2010
February’s First Friday Animal Studies Brown Bag Seminar (February 5, 12-1:30, 6H Berkey) features Camie Heleski, Coordinator of the Horse Management Program in the Department of Animal Science. Camie will speak on the welfare of working equids in Brazil and Mali.
March 2010
March’s First Friday Animal Studies Brown Bag Seminar (March 5, 12-1:30, 6H Berkey) features Carl Taylor, professor and outreach specialist in the understanding of gangs, youth culture and violence. Carl will lead a conversation on the social problem of dogfighting.
April 2010
April’s First Friday Animal Studies Brown Bag Seminar (April 2, 12-1:30, 6H Berkey) features Jessica Fry, Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice, ESPP doctoral fellow, specializing in environmental crime. Jessica will speak on the human-horse relationship.
Past Announcements
November 17, 2009
November's First Friday Animal Studies Brown Bag Seminar (Nov 6, 12-1:30, 6H Berkey) featured Laurie Thorp, Director of the Residential Program for the Study of the Environment, speaking on "Raising chickens and pigs on MSU pasture." See Laurie featured in The State News. She can be reached at thorpl@msu.edu
Oct. 3, 2009
October's First Friday Animal Studies Brown Bag Seminar (Oct 2,
12-1:30, 6H Berkey) featured Janice Swanson, Director of Animal
Welfare, leading a discussion on the "Ethics of Regulating Animal
Production from a Scientist's Perspective." She can be reached at swans173@msu.edu.
Sept. 7, 2009
September's First Friday Animal Studies Brown Bag Seminar featured
Philip Douglas, Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures, speaking on Citizen Lobbying for Animals with the Humane Society of the United States. He can be reached at dougl111@msu.edu.
Feb. 17, 2009
Director and founder of MSU's Animal Studies Program, Linda Kalof, received high honors for 2008. Her book, A Cultural History of Animals, won the 2008 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title.
Animal Studies Fellowship
We are proud to announce two new Animal Studies Fellows for 2010:
Seven Bryant, Anthropology
Melissa Harlan, Anthropology
Melissa Liszewski, Animal Sciences
The Animal Studies Fellowship is generously funded by Graduate Dean
Klomparens for interdisciplinary university-wide graduate work in
animal studies.
The 2009 Fellows were:
Margaret Fitzpatrick, CARRS
Maria Ilioupoulou, CARRS
Jennifer Kelly, Sociology
Stacy Rule, English
Send inquiries to:
Dr. Linda Kalof, Director
Animal Studies Graduate
Specialization
Department of Sociology
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864
LKalof@msu.edu
