Murdock Mind, Body, Spirit Series – Our Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond
Featuring Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, adjunct associate professor of psychology and director of the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College of Columbia University, and author of “Our Dogs, Ourselves,” in conversation with Aspen Institute Vice President of Public Programs Kitty Boone. Horowitz will discuss her research on canine cognition and how examining the ways we treat, talk to, and see our dogs can teach us about ourselves.
Alexandra Horowitz is keen on the mind of the dog. She has long been interested in understanding the umwelt of another animal, and her research and writing is aimed to answer the question of what it is like to be a dog. She has also written about the joys of paying attention to the ordinary (in On Looking); the pleasures of footnotes and the veracity of animal characters in childrens’ books (for The New York Times); and working dogs and show dogs (for The New Yorker).
Horowitz is a professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she teaches seminars in canine cognition, creative nonfiction writing, and audio storytelling. As Senior Research Fellow, she heads the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard.
She lives with Finnegan (Canis familiaris), Upton (Canis familiaris), Edsel (Felis catus), and two Homo sapiens.
Vice President, Public Programs and Executive Director, Aspen Ideas Festival, Kitty Boone is responsible for oversight of a broad array of public facing programs and events at the Aspen Institute. She is the primary executive in charge of the Aspen Ideas Festival, a week-long conference that is hosted by the Institute and The Atlantic magazine each summer in Aspen. She also supports and works with colleagues on numerous additional programs which the Institute partners in or manages, including Aspen Ideas Health, Aspen Abu Dhabi Ideas Forum, City Lab, and various smaller initiatives. Kitty has worked at the Aspen Institute since 2003.
Prior to joining The Aspen Institute, Kitty served as Vice President, Marketing and Sales at Aspen Skiing Company, where she worked for 11 years.
A native of San Francisco and a graduate of Stanford University, Kitty began her career in Washington DC as an intern for a national environmental group, ultimately coming to Aspen in 1989, after stints in the public and private sector and earning her Master’s in Public and Private Management at Yale School of Management. She is a proud mom of twins—one of whom is a junior in college and the other a Navy Seal recruit. Kitty sits on two boards in Aspen, and is passionate to learn why some people are so curious.