The Elizabeth A. Lawrence Endowed Fund
Dr. Elizabeth A. Lawrence was a pioneering veterinarian and anthropologist who wrote with insight and eloquence about the relationship between people and animals, with special attention to horses. Dr. Lawrence established the course in human-animal relations and taught it to first-year veterinary students since Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University’s first class enrolled in 1979. The course in 1979 made Tufts University the first veterinary school in the world to have a free-standing and required anthrozoology course. Although she retired in 2000 from Tufts, it is still a required course today. In 1983, Dr. Lawrence co-founded Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy with Dr. Andrew Rowan.
Dr. Lawrence’s impact is reflected in the Cummings School’s emphasis on the human-animal bond in the curriculum and in campus-community activities. The Elizabeth A. Lawrence Endowed Fund supports student and faculty-run community outreach activities and the infrastructure which sustains such programs.
The Lawrence Fund is overseen by the Center for Animals and Public Policy Advisory Board. Activities it supports include:
| Pet Loss Support Hotline seeks to serve the community at large by providing both a resource for people grieving the loss of a pet and an opportunity for our veterinary students to acquire the skills needed for pet loss and grief counseling. |
| Paws for People provides education, evaluation, and mentorship for individuals and their pets who participate in animal-assisted therapy and other services. Paws for People also provides assistance to facilities looking to start an animal visitation program, and teams work in a variety of environments to provide safe and effective animal visitation. |
| Gap Junction is a community outreach education program that allows veterinary students to teach biology-based labs to youth in the Boston and Worcester areas. |
| Animal Matters Seminar Series is presented by distinguished scientists, animal professionals, ethicists, advocates, and others, these lunchtime talks expose the Cummings community and the public to a broad sampling of the issues in which society is currently grappling with changing relationships between people and animals. |
| A DVM summer research project in the area of the Human-Animal Bond or Civic Engagement. |
| MAPP student research and externship projects – Capstone research projects by students in the M.S. Program in Animals and Public Policy that advance active citizenship and the study of the human-animal bond. |
| Competitive grants for projects and programs involving animals and the human-animal bond. Funds are available through competitive grants to any member of the Cummings school community. |