Emily Tronetti, a 2024 graduate of the EdD in Educational and Professional Practice, has written and published her dissertation titled, Developing Resources to Foster Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education.
Animal sanctuaries are vital to cultivating interactions and connections between humans and animals. Many of these sanctuaries also aim to educate their community about reducing harm and promoting compassion, which includes cultivating empathy and concern for the well-being of individual farmed animals. For Tronetti’s practice-based dissertation, she developed and evaluated a resource guide for staff and volunteers working in farmed animal sanctuaries about farmed animal agency and sanctuary education. Farmed animals outside of sanctuaries have their agency systematically suppressed and denied. Tronetti’s dissertation materials support sanctuary educators in bringing awareness to and countering these oppressive systems and practices by inspiring alternative, agency-centered relationships with farmed animals and other beings.
In addition to her EdD from Antioch, Tronetti holds an MS in anthrozoology from Canisius University and a Certificate in Applied Animal Behavior from the University of Washington. She has spent over a decade working with and advocating for other animals and teaching the humans who care for them. Tronetti plans to continue exploring and supporting community education and agency-centered practices in sanctuaries and shelters for nonhuman animals. As she moves forward in her work as a transdisciplinary scholar-practitioner, Tronetti hopes to empower humans to more equitably and compassionately coexist with each other and the more-than-human world.
Read and download Tronetti’s dissertation, Developing Resources to Foster Farmed Animal Agency in Sanctuary Education, here.
