Paul Waldau is the Director of Center. In this role, Dr. Waldau has responsibility for the overall coherence of the Center's main components: (1) the "think tank" or research institute functions,(2) the outreach of the Center to the larger Tufts community and the public, and (3) the educational efforts and programs housed at the Center. In addition, Dr. Waldau directs the Ethics and Values Signature Program (EVSP) in the DVM curriculum, where in 2006-2007 he had the role of Course Director for four different core courses (see the detailed description of this program at the Center's website). He is also an Assistant Professor and part of the Department of Environmental and Population Health.

As an educator and nationally recognized scholar, Dr. Waldau works at the center of two emerging fields - "religion and animals" and "law and animals." He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Oxford University's Faculty of Theology, a Juris Doctor degree from UCLA Law School, and a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Stanford University.

Dr. Waldau's teaching includes courses in Master of Science in Animals and Public Policy (MAPP) program touching on law and policy, and also gives frequent lectures on ethics, policy, law, and various socio-cultural issues. Dr. Waldau also has taught courses at the undergraduate campus in Medford, where he is a Lecturer in the Comparative Religion Department.

Dr. Waldau's work in the field of "law and animals" includes both teaching and service. He was appointed as the first Barker Lecturer in "Animal Law" at Harvard Law School in Spring 2006, and will again hold that position in Spring 2008. He has also been an adjunct faculty member at Boston College Law School, Suffolk University Law School, and Yale Law School (where he co-directs the animal law reading group).

Dr. Waldau was the principal organizer of the 2001 conference entitled 'Great Apes at the Threshold: Law, Science, and Policy', and in 2002 he was one of the organizers and presenters at the Harvard Law School conference entitled, "The Evolving Legal Status of Chimpanzees"."

As a volunteer, Dr. Waldau has had a long-time role as Vice-President of The Great Ape Project. He was a member, along with Jane Goodall, of the Chimpanzee Collaboratory, and directed that group's International Committee from 2003-2005 as it worked to support the work of the Great Ape World Heritage Species Project regarding United Nations-level protections for chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos. He is also Vice-Chair of the Animal Law Committee and Chair of that group's Great Apes Subcommittee.

In the field of "religion and animals," Dr. Waldau has published two books. His first book, The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals, was published by Oxford University Press in 2001. His second book, published in 2006 by Columbia University Press, is A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics. Dr. Waldau is the lead editor of this collection of essays given at the historic "Religion and Animals" conference at Harvard University in May 1999.

As author of numerous encyclopedia and journal articles, including those addressing religion and animals in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Dr. Waldau lectures widely on this emerging field. In addition, Dr. Waldau is the founder and co-chair of the Animals and Religion Consultation at the American Academy of Religion, and a steering committee member for the Religion and Ecology Group. He has been a senior fellow at Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions, and runs the non-profit organization known as the Religion and Animals Institute.

Dr. Waldau's Faculty Profile