Students in the Animal Studies Graduate Specialization
Seven Bryant graduated from Western Michigan University in 2007 with an environmental studies and anthropology degree, with minors in Japanese and comparative religion. She entered the MSU anthropology graduate department to research Japan's unique relationship with its environment. Her general interests include: religion and nature, wolf reintroduction, animal rights groups, and the role zoos play in forming our understanding of animals.
Maggie has graduated from the Program.
Melissa Harlan is a native of Ohio, where at a young age she gained an appreciation of animals while helping her grandfather tend to racehorses. She attended the University of Cincinnati, where she studied digital design and biology before receiving her B.A. in Anthropology in 2007. Currently, Melissa is a second year graduate student in the department of Anthropology at Michigan State University. Her research is centered on environmental conservation, with a focus on human perception of the environment and human-animal relations. Points of interest include tourism, indigenous knowledge and health, and linguistics, and how these aspects tie in to environmental conservation in a more holistic manner.
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Maria Iliopoulou
Department: Community, Agriculture, Recreation & Resource Studies
E-mail: iliopoul@cvm.msu.edu |
Dr. Maria Iliopoulou was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, where she completed part of her studies. She received a B.S. degree in French and literature from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Afterwards she was admitted at the College of Veterinary Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. During her Veterinary studies she spent a Semester in the Veterinary school of Alfort in France (“Ecole Nationale Veterinaire d’Alfort”) after receiving a Socrates scholarship. In 2003 she came to the US with her husband and was transferred to the College of Veterinary Medicine at MSU, where she graduated in 2007. She is currently finishing her MS studies in the Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology program at MSU on the research topic “Quality of Life (QOL) in dogs treated with chemotherapy.” She recently chose to pursue a PhD in the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies at MSU. Since a very young age she was actively involved in local animal rescue groups and humane societies in her native country Greece, in France, and in the US. She is interested in Animal well-being, Animal Behavior, Human-animal bond, issues related to unwanted animals and especially Breed Specific Legislation, dogfighting and Pit bulls. She is married to Nick Dervisis, a Veterinary Oncologist and they have 2 dogs Rocky and Minnie, 2 cats Angel and Bastet, 2 canaries Kouli and Hermes and 1 cockatiel kotopoulo. Most of the time they either foster an animal or they try to find owners for their Last Chance hold animals (be aware!).
Jennifer Rebecca Kelly studies environmental sociology focusing on the
relationship that humans have with the living world. With an
interdisciplinary background her scholarship and views on the nature
society divide have embraced a holistic approach. As such, her
interests have taken on an experiential dimension, that is, where
nature and wildlife interface most vividly with humans. This is
revealed in a broad range of areas from an individual’s encounter with
the portrait of a wild animal, to exploring the role of experiential
education that is centered on the student immersion into a natural
environment, to the hunting of wildlife, a relationship that has been
portrayed both as an act of love and kill.
Melissa Liszewski is a graduate student in the Animal Science Department. She is studying animal welfare in developing countries.
Stacy Rule is a second year American Studies Ph.D. candidate at MSU. She earned her B.A. in English at Binghamton University and graduated from Hofstra University with an M.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her principal research interests are animal studies, ecocriticism, American literature and cultural studies, and she is a member of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment.
