Professor of Religion and Culture and Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood presented on the panel “Beyond Personhood: New Ways to Imagine Our Solidarity with Animals” at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting in Boston. The Animals and Religion Group was founded by Dr. Hobgood and several colleagues in 2000 and has now been active in the AAR for 25 years.

Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology Jimmy Smith and Professor of Religion and Culture/Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood were invited by Lifelong Learning (formerly Senior University) to teach a six-week class called “Going to the Dogs.” The course is based on their 20-year FYS taught at SU.

Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood presented as part of a panel on her contributions to the recently published volume Animals and Religion  at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting. Her two chapters are “Companion Animals” and “Blessings of Pets in Jewish and Christian Traditions.”

Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood spent part of spring break in Los Angeles being interviewed and filmed for a documentary focusing on women as leaders and healers in early and medieval Christianity. The documentary, tentatively titled “Immortality Key,” will be a feature length motion picture when it is completed.

Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood had three chapters published in edited volumes in January and February. “Blessings of Pets in Jewish and Christian Traditions” and “Companion Animals” in Animals and Religion, Routledge Press (ed. D. Aftandilian, B Ambros, and A. Gross) and “Animals and Religion” in Religion and Nature in North America, Bloomsbury Press (ed. L. Kearns and W. Bauman).