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.

—March 2024

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).

—February 2024

Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood was interviewed for U.S. Catholic magazine’s podcast “Glad You Asked.” Each episode of GYA is centered around a question about Catholicism/Christianity that may seem simple at first but requires a good deal of nuance to address well. The question posed to Laura is, “Do dogs go to heaven?” The episode will be released on November 10, 2023.

—October 2023

Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood was invited to give the Inaugural Animal History Lecture at the University of Dayton. The lecture will be held in February 2024.

—September 2023

Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood has been invited to join the Board of Directors of Education Congo. This organization works to provide scholarships and raise funds to support programs aimed at enhancing the quality of higher education in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her term begins with the fall board meeting in September.

—June 2023

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood was invited to appear for a second interview on the NPR broadcast “Dog Talk (and Kitties Too).” The focus of the interview was her book Holy Dogs and Asses: Animals in the Christian Tradition. It will air in February.

—January 2022

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood was interviewed for the NPR show “Dog Talk” (Radio Pet Lady Network, Long Island). The show will air in 4–6 weeks and features information from Hobgood’s book A Dog’s History of the World

—October 2021

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood was interviewed and featured in an article in the September 2021 issue of The Atlantic. The article, “Why Millennials Are Obsessed With Dogs,” includes a reference to Hobgood’s book A Dog’s History of the World.

—August 2021

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood will participate as an invited international panelist to discuss the recently released book Enter the Animal (Sydney University Press) on Tuesday, July 13. For more information or to attend the panel, see the official website.

—July 2021

Laura Hobgood, professor of religion and holder of the Brown Chair in Religion and Environmental Studies, was the invited lecturer for Texas Christian University’s annual Blessing of the Animals (this year virtual). Her lecture was titled “We Are Animals Too” and was presented on September 30.

—September 2020

Professor of Religion and Elizabeth Root Paden Chair in Religion and Environmental Studies Laura Hobgood has had an article accepted for Bloomsbury Religion in North America, a multimedia, peer-reviewed project. Hobgood researched and wrote “Animals and Religion” during her Southwestern-granted sabbatical in the fall of 2019.

—September 2020

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood published a chapter titled “Animals” in The Routledge Companion to Death and Dying, ed. Christopher Moreman. Routledge, 2017.

—August 2017

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood will present a lecture at Harvard University on Oct. 16, 2016. The invited lecture is part of the conference “Religion, Ecology and our Planetary Future.” Her talk is entitled “Critical Animal Studies Meets Religion and Ecology.”

—October 2016

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood was invited to be and presented as the Dianne Collins and Alan K. Collins Distinguished Speaker Series at Florida International University in January 2016. Her lecture was titled “Becoming Human and Dog Together.”

—March 2016

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood was invited to be and presented as the Dianne Collins and Alan K. Collins Distinguished Speaker Series at Florida International University in January 2016. Her lecture was titled “Becoming Human and Dog Together.”

—January 2016

Professor of Religion Laura Hobgood-Oster was one of the guests on HuffPost Live on Nov. 13. 2014

—November 2014

Laura Hobgood-Oster, professor of religion and environmental studies, had an article titled “Dog Eat Dog World” published in the July issue of Crufts magazine.

—September 2014

Five faculty members from Southwestern participated in the annual meeting of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences that was held at Pace University in New York June 11-14. The theme for the conference was “Welcome to the Anthropocene: From Global Challenge to Planetary Stewardship.” Faculty members Erika BerrothLaura Hobgood-OsterMelissa Johnson and Emily Northrop participated in a panel titled “Collaboration in Teaching the Anthropocene Across Disciplines.” Berroth presented a paper titled “Shades of Green: Reflection on the Role of Modern Languages and Literature Programs within Environmental Humanities and the Anthropocene Studies.” Hobgood-Oster presented a paper titled “How Does the Anthropocene Fit into a Religion Classroom?” Johnson presented a paper titled  “Reframing an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Course around the Anthropocene.” Northrop presented a paper titled “The Competing Goals of Economic Growth and Climate Stability in the Introductory Economics Course.” Molly Jensen, assistant professor of religion, introduced conference participants to Southwestern’s new Paideia Cluster on The Anthropocene and presented a paper at the meeting titled “Cultivating a Sense of Place in a Religious Studies Course: Teaching for Ecological Care.”

—August 2014