Animals and Society Course Awards
The Humane Society of the United States and
Animals
and Society Institute
Announce Winners of the
Animals and Society Course Awards for 2011
WASHINGTON
(Jan. 13, 2012) – The Humane Society of the United States and the Animals and
Society Institute are pleased to announce the winners of the 13th
annual Animals and Society Course awards. This prestigious award recognizes
academic excellence in college and university classes that explore the
relationships between animals and people.
“We
have recognized courses in several dozen disciplines since the launch of the
award in 1998, and this year’s entries reflect the fantastic growth of animal
studies during that time,” said Kenneth Shapiro, Ph.D., executive director of
the Animals and Society Institute.
“The increasing presence of Animal Studies within
institutions of higher education worldwide is a true marker of expanding
interest in the human-animal bond,” said Dr. Bernard Unti, Senior Policy
Adviser and Special Assistant to the CEO of The HSUS.
The
academic departments of the established and new course award winners will each
receive $1,500.
- Distinguished
New Course Award: “Perspectives:
Werewolves, Seal Wives, Grizzly Men and Other Metamorphoses.” Karla
Armbruster,
English Department, Webster University. (St. Louis, Missouri)
The course’s focus on human-animal
transformation creatively explores conventional assumptions about human
separation from and superiority to non-human animals.
- Distinguished
Established Course Award: “Introduction
to Animal Studies.” Robert Mitchell, Department of Psychology, Eastern
Kentucky University (Richmond, Kentucky)
The course is one of the few attempts at
a truly cross-disciplinary syllabus, and comfortably ranges over several
fields; psychology, history, philosophy, social justice, and cultural
studies. It is part of the newly
launched Animal Studies major at Eastern Kentucky University, arguably the
first undergranduate major of its kind in the world.
·
Honorable
Mention, Distinguished New Course Award: “Animals,
People, and Nature.” Linda Kalof and Molly Tamulevich, Department of Sociology,
Michigan State University (Lansing, Michigan)
The richness of this undergraduate
course reflects the scope of the volume co-edited by Linda Kalof and Amy
Fitzgerald, The Animals Reader, and is further enriched by multimedia
and interdisciplinary materials.
Honorable Mention, Distinguished New Course Award: “A History of
Animals in the Atlantic World.” Abel Alves, Assistant Professor of History,
Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana)
The
course represents a bold attempt to introject a multicultural dimension into
human-animal studies as practiced in the field of Atlantic history.
Judges
from The HSUS and the Animals and Society Institute evaluate the submissions
using criteria such as depth and rigor within the topic, impact on the study of
animals and society, and originality of approach.
Published by admin on 12/30/2011 17:15:48
