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ASI-UIUC Summer Institute
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Last month,the HAS program was super busy! Our HAS program director, Margo DeMello, along with ASI board President Ken Shapiro, spent a week at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, where, along with Jane Desmond, Resident Director (of UIUC) and Kim Marra, of the University of Iowa, we participated in the third annual
ASI-UIUC Summer Institute in Human-Animal Studies
.
This year's program was fabulous! We had terrific talks by Carrie Rohman, Bill Lynn (an ASI fellowship alum), Juno Salazar-Perrenas (also an ASI fellowship alum), Saheed Aderinto, May Berenbaum, Deke Weaver, Maria Lux (a Summer Institute alum), and Chris Green, and the discussions and work generated during the week were incredibly generative.
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A week later, Ken and Margo flew to Kassel Germany to participate in, along with colleagues Mieke Roscher and Andre Krebber, of the University of Kassel, the
European Summer School: Interspecies Relationships
. This one-time program was a way to work with a set of international graduate students with a specific focus on interspecies relationality within the European context. Participants spent the week with guest faculty including Helena Pedersen, Claire Parkinson, Bob McKay (also an ASI fellowship alum), David Redmalm (who is also a fellowship alum!), Mechtild Bereswill, Reingard Spannring, and Jessica Ullrich, where they read and discussed an intensive set of articles on theory in human-animal studies. The week was super productive for all participants.
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Defining Human-Animal Studies Video Series Season 2
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We've released two additional videos as part of Season 2 of ASI’s Defining Human-Animal Studies video series. First, co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education, Zoe Weil discusses the term Humane Education.
The second video highlights Alex Parrish, Associate Professor, School of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication, James Madison University, who discusses the concept of Hierarchy.
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ASI is Hiring New Human-Animal Studies Program Director!
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After 15 years with ASI Margo DeMello will be stepping down as our Director of Human-Animal Studies at the end of this month. Margo first made this announcement in our Human-Animal Studies newsletter (add subscribe link) last Friday with this short note:
"These 15 years have been an incredible experience for me, and being involved with developing the field of human-animal studies—a non-existent field when I was in graduate school—has been incredibly rewarding. I’m going to stay involved in the field, and will continue writing and researching, but am hoping to find some new challenges and opportunities for me in this new phase of my life and career."
ASI wishes Margo well in her future endeavors.
To learn more about the Director of Human-Animal Studies position and apply, please
follow this link
.
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We are delighted that a third pilot of ASI’s programs for animal maltreatment offenders will be launched this week in Maricopa County, Arizona. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will be adding ASI’s intervention resources to their list of Diversion Programs. These programs offer an alternative to traditional case processing and emphasize interventions designed to reduce recidivism.
This will be the first pilot site using all three tiers of ASI’s intervention programs: (1) CARE (Companion Animal Responsibility and Care), a half-day program focused on minimum standards of care and knowledge of companion animals’ basic needs, (2) BARK (Behavior, Accountability, Responsibility, and Knowledge), a 14-week group program focused on accountability and factors that motivated the abuse or neglect, including attitudes, beliefs, and other risk factors, and (3) AniCare®, our one-on-one psychological intervention focusing on animal abuse and co-occurring issues such as substance abuse, domestic violence, and child abuse.
The County Attorney will identify offenders who are eligible for the Animal Cruelty Diversion Program, which is available only after charging, as an alternative to prosecution. Prosecution will be suspended for six months for misdemeanor offenses and one year for felony offenses. SAGE Counseling, Inc. will assess clients to determine which intervention tier is most appropriate and deliver the intervention in collaboration with the Maricopa County Attorney’s office. The County Attorney will file a motion to dismiss the charges of offenders who successfully complete the program and will reinstate prosecution of those don’t. We look forward to providing updates about this newest effort.
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Today is
International Homeless Animals Day. Up to 25% of people experiencing homelessness have companion animals. A growing trend is to allow co-sheltering of humans and companion animals together. With a grant from Maddie's Fund, ASI is working to identify best practices in co-sheltering, reducing the likelihood that animals will be relinquished simply because their caregivers are experiencing a period of homelessness. Click on the link to learn more about ASI's work on these much-needed programs.
https://www.animalsandsociety.org/tag/homelessness/
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See the whole Did You Know? series on Facebook
here!
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Reflection by Ken Shapiro, ASI Board President and Secretary
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At a time when we reel in response to results of scientific studies on the degradation of the environment and wildlife, the current administration’s response is a massive attack on the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which in its over 40 year history has offered protection to over 1600 animals and plants.
Recent scientific studies show that:
- the population of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish has decreased by 60% in the last 40 years;
- the humans and livestock now outweigh (biological proportionality) all the remaining wild mammals;
- more than 1 million plants and animals globally face extinction due to human influence (climate change, habitat reduction…).
The administration has just taken executive action that:
- threatened" wildlife will now receive reduced protection;
- the financial costs of safeguarding endangered species will now be weighed;
- mining, timber, and oil industries will now be able to develop critical habitat formerly occupied by an endangered species.
Where do we go from here? In the coming months, ASI will continue to monitor changes to the ESA and raise awareness on how these changes effect wildlife, plants and green spaces. ASI will work with other like-minded organizations to help strengthen the ESA. To stay informed, look for our monthly newsletter and join us on social media.
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Kenneth Shapiro is cofounder of the Animals & Society Institute. He is founder and editor of Society and Animals: Journal of Human-Animal Studies; cofounder and coeditor of Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science; and editor of the Human-Animal Studies book series.
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Nikki Allain interned with ASI during the Summer 2019 semester. During her time here, she was involved in creating the intern content for the ASI website and designing monthly infographics for ASI’s “Did You Know?” social media series. Nikki also helped format the journal archive pages on the ASI website.
Nikki came to us as a senior Public and Nonprofit Administration major from Eastern Michigan University. She is also a volunteer with Pit Bull Rescue Central, an online education and resource center for pitbull guardians and caretakers. In her spare time Nikki likes to craft, camp, and kayak. She also enjoys reading and just hanging out with her four dogs.
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ASI memberships include special discounts, access to Society & Animals and Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science and more...
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Did you know you can shop on Amazon and support ASI?
Visit
smile.amazon.com
, choose Animals and Society as your charity, and shop. The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases.
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