Human-Animal Studies Speaker Series

Each year the HAST program brings faculty, students, and community members together for a lecture series featuring world-renowned animal scholars and activists. These lectures (usually three per year) draw a mixed and lively audience of from fifty to one hundred fifty people. Past themes of the Series have included the mental lives of farmed animals, shared human-animal experiences at the margins of society, and living at the wildlife-urban interface. The lectures are followed by Q and A time and informal conversations.

Students are given the opportunity to make personal connections with our lecturers at dinners and beyond. Past speakers have included marine biologist Lori Marino, animal ethologist Marc Bekoff, Farm Sanctuary founder Gene Baur, and ecofeminist author Carol J. Adams.

Upcoming Speakers

Guest Speakers:  Austin Hill
Topic: Rescuing Carnivores Around the World
Date/Time: Tuesday, March 14th at 7:00
Location: Gregory 161

Join Austin Hill as he gives an in-depth look into The Wild Animal Sanctuary’s 43-year-long mission rescuing and caring for animals from the Captive Wildlife Crisis around the globe.

Austin Hill first visited The Wild Animal Sanctuary the day after graduating college in 2014 and was instantly enamored! Not long after, he found himself joining his very favorite place/mission on the planet. He is extremely passionate about telling the animals’ stories in educating others about the Captive Wildlife Crisis.

The Animal Sanctuary is located near Keenesburg, Colorado.   It is the largest nonprofit carnivore sanctuary in the world, with over 650 rescued animals, including lions, tigers, bears, wolves, leopards, and other large carnivores living in large-acreage natural habitats. Established in 1980, the Sanctuary operates four locations with more than 33,000 acres for abused, abandoned, and confiscated carnivores and specializes in rehabilitating captive wildlife so they can be released into natural habitats where they can roam freely and live with others of their own kind

Previous HAST Speakers