New Endowed Anthrozoology Professorship Established by Greg Roeben and Susan Raunig

Photo of Susan Raunig and Greg Roeben on Campus

Carroll College is thrilled to announce the establishment of the Gregory V. Roeben and Susan F. Raunig Endowed Professorship in Social Justice and the Human-Animal Relationship. Funded by former Helenans Greg Roeben and Susan Raunig of Kirkland, WA, the professorship will be awarded to an Anthrozoology Program faculty member.

The professorship was established to promote both the Anthrozoology Program and the Hunthausen Center for Peace and Justice, and to embrace multiple disciplines including ethics, sociology, psychology, theology, and Catholic Social Teaching. Carroll’s Anthrozoology Program offers a major and a minor, through which students explore the human-animal bond and develop knowledge and skills to improve lives through animal-assisted therapy, veterinary medicine, and other careers. The Hunthausen Center provides service-learning resources, functions as a liaison with service agencies in Helena, and promotes understanding of Catholic Social Teaching.

The endowment will be administered through the Hunthausen Center and will be used to support a one semester, third-year course and other educational opportunities—such as seminars, guest lecturers, research, and student and faculty travel to educational and career development opportunities—focused on “critical approaches to social justice in the human-animal relationship.”

Greg Roeben, a psychiatrist, and Susan Raunig, formerly of Microsoft, are both graduates of Helena’s Capital High School but are not Carroll alumni. While considering where they might direct this extraordinary gift, the couple looked at many colleges and universities and contemplated supporting educational opportunities previously funded by the philanthropy of noted TV personality and animal-rights activist Bob Barker (such as the Animal Law program at Harvard Law School or the Animal Studies Program at Drury University). But nothing seemed quite right. Inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, they turned their thoughts to Catholic Social Teaching—and Archbishop Hunthausen immediately came to mind. This is where Carroll College entered the equation.

I went to Carroll’s website and was reading about the Hunthausen Center for Peace and Justice,” Greg relates. “I clicked on the ‘In the News’ link and the first listing referred to the Anthrozoology program. I clicked over to the Anthrozoology site and soon knew this was exactly what we were looking for.

The couple visited with Anne Perkins, PhD, Director of Anthrozoology, and with former Carroll Anthrozoology professor Rick Timmins, who lives near Greg and Susan on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound area. Rick, Greg and Susan talked through ways this gift could fund education that would encourage students to think about humans’ responsibility with respect to the human-animal relationship, and to consider becoming next-generation leaders examining and promoting social justice teaching in the human-animal relationship. To Susan, who comments that almost everything she learned about being an adult was learned in Helena, “making the gift to Carroll feels right.”

Candie Cain, Interim Vice President for Advancement, says, “The Anthrozoology Program and the Hunthausen Center for Peace and Justice represent exactly what Carroll College is about: love and service. We are blessed not only to have this support for Anthrozoology faculty and the Center, but to have the opportunity to know Greg and Susan and to welcome them into the Carroll family.”

For information on how to contribute to this endowment or to support Carroll College in other ways, visit carroll.edu/give or contact Cindy Everts, Major Gifts Officer, at ceverts@carroll.edu or (406) 447-4445.

Learn more about the Hunthausen Center for Peace and Justice, and about Anthrozoology at Carroll College.