Kathie Jenni earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of California, Irvine, then spent a year as an ethics in Society fellow at Stanford university before taking her current position at the University of Redlands. She has taught environmental ethics, animal ethics, moral psychology, ethics and law, and other courses at Redlands for twenty years.

Kathie’s interest in animals originated with her upbringing on a cattle ranch in central Montana and was intensified in graduate study in ethics, when she realized the scope of animal exploitation and embarked on the path toward veganism.

Her life changed again when she discovered Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in southern Utah. Having long wanted to work more actively for animals, she found a way to incorporate that aspiration into academic life when she created the May term course that she has taught at Best Friends for ten years. “Taking Animals Seriously” combines a four-week internship in animal care with study in animal ethics; it won the university’s “Innovative Teaching Award” in 2004. Kathie currently directs the interdisciplinary Human–Animal Studies minor that she introduced to the College of Arts and Sciences in 2008. She lives with eight adopted companions—five cats and three dogs—who bring her inexpressible joy and make her laugh every day.