This event is free and open to the public.

CATS IN CONTEXT

January 20-21, 2013

A Special Symposium co-hosted by
The Canisius College Institute for the Study of Human-Animal Relations

 

Please join us for a thorough examination of humankind's relationships with cats, the wonderful creatures with which we share the planet and with which we share our lives. 

This symposium will provide an opportunity for visionary thinkers to present the latest information on feline evolutionary biology, health and behavior.  This will also be an opportunity for all to listen in while the panelists discuss issues with one another.  Ideally, the result will provide a road map that can guide all of us to better understand and relate to the cats in our lives. 

Symposium Location:  Regis Room, Student Center, Canisius College, Buffalo, New York

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

The entire two day symposium is free and open to the public.  Participants are welcome to attend all or any parts of the event. 

HOTEL INFORMATION:

The Cats in Context Symposium is affiliated with the Millennium Hotel in Cheektowaga NY, where symposium guests are eligible for a discounted room rate.  The hotel is located at 2040 Walden Avenue, Cheektowaga, NY (phone number: 716-681-2400). 

GROUND TRANSPORTATION:

A free shuttle is available between the Millennium Hotel and the Buffalo Airport.  Upon arrival at the airport, telephone the hotel at 716-681-2400 to call for the shuttle.  FYI, it takes about ten minutes in each direction. 

This hotel is located approximately fifteen minutes from the symposium venues, and a free bus will be available to move guests to and from the events.  The free hotel-campus shuttle bus will depart from the Millennium Hotel at 8:15 on the mornings of January 21 to carry guests to the meeting venues. 

The same bus will be available to shuttle guests to the airport, or the hotel at the symposium close at 4:15 pm on January 21.  The bus will depart from the Canisius College Student Center. 

SYMPOSIUM LOCATION

The Cats in Context symposium will take place in the Regis Room on the Canisius College campus.  It is located on the second floor of the Canisius College Student Center. 

Visitors to campus are encouraged to park in the college’s parking ramp accessed on Jefferson Avenue (near its intersection with Hedley Pl).  From the parking ramp, walk along Jefferson to Hughes, then along Hughes to the Student Center.  See map below. 

MEALS

Breakfast

Guests staying at the Millennium Hotel are encouraged to eat breakfast at the hotel restaurant, which offers a full-service breakfast menu.  That will allow them to take the 8:15am shuttle bus directly to the symposium at 8:45am. 

Alternatively, there are three options to purchase breakfast on the Canisius College campus:

• a full breakfast brunch is available in the Economu Dining Hall, located on the first floor of the Student Center (cost is $8 per person).  Service is from 10:30am to 1:30pm. 

• a Tim Horton’s restaurant offers baked goods and beverages, located inside the Bowhuis Library (after 10am). 

• lite breakfast snacks will also be made available at the Student Center meeting site. 

 Lunch

 There are three options to purchase lunch on the Canisius College campus:

• brunch will remain available in the Economu Dining Hall, located on the first floor of the Student Center, until 1:30pm. 

• a Tim Horton’s restaurant offers baked goods and beverages, located inside the Bowhuis Library. 

• Streetside Café and Espresso Bar is open 12 to 5pm in the Palisano Pavilion. 

Dinner

 There are three options to purchase dinner on the Canisius College campus:

• an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet is available in the Economu Dining Hall, located on the first floor of the Student Center (cost is $11 per person).  Service is 4:30pm to 7:00pm.

• a Tim Horton’s restaurant offers baked goods and beverages, located inside the Bowhuis Library. 

• Iggy’s Burgers and Snack Food is available 5:30pm to 10:00pm in the Palisano Pavilion. 

 Cats in Context Symposium Panelists

 James T. Albert

 James Albert, DVM, graduated from Mississippi State in 1994, after receiving his BA and BS from the University of Pittsburgh.  He practiced equine and large animal medicine in Kentucky upon graduation.  He gained valuable emergency medicine and surgical experience while employed at the Greater Buffalo Veterinary Emergency Clinic.  He has been a small animal, /avian and exotic veterinarian since 1995 and most notably was the veterinarian for the Buffalo Zoo.  He is past president of the Niagara Frontier Veterinary Society. 

 Barbara Carr

 Barbara S. Carr serves as the Executive Director of the SPCA Serving Erie County.  Previous to her position at the SPCA, she served as Executive Director of the Cocheco Valley Humane Society in Dover, New Hampshire, was President of the New Hampshire Federation of Humane Societies, and served on the Board of Directors of the New England Federation of Humane Organizations. She was also the Executive Producer of “Humane Perspectives,” winner of a Cable Ace Award for the Best Education Programs.

 During her tenure at the SPCA, Ms. Carr has been responsible for: bringing surgery in-house; creating the Whisker Wag’n, the SPCA’s mobile adoption unit; developing the SPCA’s off-site adoption program; developing the Wildlife and Humane Education Departments; implementing a foster care program for young and sick animals; and renovating the dog kennels. In addition, Ms. Carr has served as an advisor to the Humane Society of the United States Companion Animal Division and in 2007 was appointed to a three-year term on the National Federation of Humane Societies’ first-ever board of directors as President.

 Linda P Case

 Linda Case earned her B.S. in Animal Science at Cornell University and her M.S. in Canine/Feline Nutrition at the University of Illinois.  She has taught the undergraduate program in companion animal science in the Animal Sciences Department at the University of Illinois for 15 years.  Linda currently owns AutumnGold Consulting and AutumnGold Dog Training Center in Mahomet, IL.  AutumnGold Consulting provides scientific writing services and professional training courses to pet-related companies and organizations. Linda is the author of numerous publications, including four books, most recently “Canine and Feline Nutrition: A Resource for Companion Animal Professionals” (2010) and “Canine and Feline Behavior and Training: A Complete Guide to Understanding Our Two Best Friends” (2009). Her newest book, “Caring Science: Making Evidence-Based Decisions for Your Dog’s Nutritional Health” will be published in 2013.  

Stacy Dralle

Stacy Dralle, DVM, is a small animal veterinarian at the Orchard Park Veterinary Center in Orchard Park, NY.  She is originally from Auburn, NY and graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2005 with a bachelor's in biology.  She completed her veterinary degree at the Ohio State University in 2009, and a rotating small animal internship at the University of Illinois in 2010.  She has been at the Orchard Park Veterinary Medical Center since September 2010.  Her interests include feline medicine and exotics.  

Julie Hecht

 Julie Hecht is a canine behavioral researcher, science writer and Adjunct Professor of Applied Animal Behavior in the Anthrozoology Master’s Program at Canisius.  Julie manages Alexandra Horowitz's Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College in New York City.  She holds regular lectures for the general public and student groups on research into dog cognition and behavior.  She writes for the magazine The Bark and the blogs Dog Spies and Do You Believe in Dog?  Her new cat, Josh, inspired the creation of the Tumblr page, Things My Cat Broke. 

 Katherine A. Houpt

 Katherine A. Houpt, VMD & PhD, is  Emeritus James Law Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, and is  certified as an Applied Animal Behaviorist by the Animal Behavior Society.  She has published over 100 papers on various aspects of domestic animal behavior and welfare as well as a textbook – Domestic Animal Behavior – now in its fifth edition.  She directed the  Animal Behavior Clinic at Cornell University’s Hospital for Animals and has trained both residents and graduate students.  Currently she directs Animal Behavior Consultants of Northern Michigan.  

 Warren E Johnson

 Warren Johnson recently joined the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute as a Research Scientist in Conservation Genetics and as Program Coordinator of Biodiversity Genomics at the Smithsonian Institutes.  He received his PhD in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University in 1992.  He joined the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute of NIH to work with Dr. Stephen O’Brien in 1992, and was promoted to Research Fellow in 1995 and Staff Scientist in 2000.  His research has spanned a broad spectrum of disciplines, including applied wildlife ecology, conservation genetics, comparative genomics, phylogenetics, and molecular ecology.  He often has addressed evolutionary questions in model organisms or natural populations with a strong biomedical/veterinary component (e.g. with Florida panthers, African lions, and cheetahs).  He has served on the editorial Board of Journal of Heredity since 2007 and as Co-Chair of the mammal group has had an integral role in the G10K project and assisting international genomic initiatives.

 Marcia J Levine

 Marcia Levine, DVM, attended Cornell University for her Bachelor in Biology, Masters in Education and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees.  Shortly thereafter, she established the Summer Street Cat Clinic, devoted entirely to the special needs of cats. 

 She has been an active participant in Western New York veterinary organizations and the founding of the Pet Emergency Fund, a charity to help pet owners in need with assistance for emergency veterinary expenses.  Dr. Levine has also served on the NYS Board for Veterinary Medicine. 

 Kathleen Makolinski

 Kathleen Makolinski, DVM, is Senior Director, Grants and Spay/Neuter Programs, ASPCA Veterinary Outreach.  After graduating from Canisius College and the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, she worked as a small animal veterinarian for five years.  She then served as Director of Veterinary Services for a limited admission, not for profit animal shelter.  Here she provided spay/neuter services in a mobile unit for shelter animals, public animals, and free roaming cats.  Kathleen also co-founded two local not-for-profit organizations, Operation PETS: The Spay/Neuter Clinic of Western New York and Feral Cat FOCUS.  She currently works for the ASPCA and helps communities implement and enhance high quality, high volume spay/neuter programs.   She is interested in targeted spay/neuter as a means to help combat companion animal homelessness.

 Frank Mendel

 Frank Mendel, PhD, completed is graduate studies in Physical Anthropology at the University of California at Davis.  He presently serves as professor of anatomy at the State University of New York at Buffalo.  He

 His primary interests focus on relations between form and function, and he has examined questions stemming from this interest in howler monkeys, sloths, bats, orangs, big cats (extant & extinct).  His current research focuses upon the killing behavior of modern big cats, extinct sabertoothed cats & cat-like carnivores

 Michael Noonan

 At Canisius College, Michael Noonan, PhD, is Professor of Biology, Chair of Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation, and Director of the college’s Master’s Program in Anthrozoology.  He is founder and director of the Canisius College Institute for the Study of Human-Animal Relations, the host organization for this symposium.  His research focuses upon the social and cognitive behavior of marine mammals housed in seaquariums. 

 Wayne Pacelle

 Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States, the world’s largest animal protection organization, conducting a wide range of animal-care programs.  In the eight years that Pacelle has been president, HSUS has worked to pass 700 state laws to help animals.  He has been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, and has appeared on almost all of the major network television programs – including “60 Minutes,” "Ellen,” “Oprah.”  He is the author of The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them,” which is a New York Times bestseller published in April 2011 by Harper Collins.  Wayne Pacelle received his B.A. in History and Studies in the Environment from Yale University in 1987.

 Janet Scarlett

 Janet Scarlett, DVM, is the founder and Director of the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program and a Professor of Epidemiology at Cornell University.  She and Dr. Lila Miller offered the first didactic course in shelter medicine at Cornell in 1999.  Dr. Scarlett participated in some of the first scientific studies of the reasons for pet relinquishment to shelters and has since published on numerous shelter-related issues, including pediatric neutering, feline upper respiratory tract infections, and the effectiveness of S/N programs. 

 James A Serpell

 James Serpell, PhD, is the Marie A. Moore Professor of Animal Welfare at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, where he also directs the Center for the Interaction of Animals & Society.  His research focuses on the behavior and welfare of dogs and cats, the development of human attitudes to animals, and the history and impact of human-animal relationships.  In addition to publishing more than 100 articles and book chapters on these and related topics, he is the author, editor or co-editor of several books including Animals & Human Society (1994), The Domestic Dog (1995), In the Company of Animals (1996), and Companion Animals & Us (2000).

 Malini Suchak

 Malini Suchak got her start in Animal Behavior as an undergraduate at Canisius working with you, primarily examining communication in killer whales.  She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Emory University working with Dr. Frans de Waal, where she is studying cooperation and helping behavior in nonhuman primates.  In the future, she is interested in approaching these questions from a comparative perspective and hopes to begin studying social carnivores (including lions). 

 Miranda Workman

 Miranda K. Workman, BA, CPDT-KSA, CBCC-KA, has been President and CEO of Purrfect Paws Animal Behavior Center since its inception in July 2006.  While she works to rehabilitate many different behavior concerns of pet owners, she especially enjoys working with multi-pet households, aggression and feline behavior problems.

 At the SPCA’s Behavior and Training Department, she has written several educational documents for adopters, and has presented various behavior and education seminars for staff and volunteers.  She also served from 2007-2011 on the Board of Directors of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, Inc.  Presently she teaches Animal Learning in the Canisius College undergraduate Animal Behavior, Ecology and Conservation program, while pursuing graduate studies in Anthrozoology. 

 Jerilee Zezula

 Jerilee Zezula, DVM, is a veterinarian and retired professor in Applied Animal Science at the University of New Hampshire.  For 30 years she was the resident campus expert in all things “dog” and “cat”.  For nearly as many years, through ElderPet, a non-profit service organization, she has helped senior citizen owners with pet behavioral and health problems. 

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