Faculty Symposium: How Valuable Is That Doggie in the Window, Nov. 15

The Faculty Symposium will be held on November 15 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the Faculty Shark Club (Rosenthal Building).

As the use of service, support, and therapy animals increases, so do questions about the legal definitions, allowable use, and attendant benefits. This symposium will address the Americans with Disabilities Act’s narrow definition of service animals and the broader definition in the Fair Housing Act and Air Carrier Access Act—which includes emotional support animals and the need for clear regulation. The speakers will discuss the positive impact animals often have on the physical, emotional, and psychological health of human beings. The discussion will include the innovative use of horses in providing mental health services, with focus on work being done here at NSU. In addition to the legal and ethical issues arising from the use of service animals, the symposium will explore the animals’ specific characteristics that make them uniquely suited for the therapy and support they provide.

Presenters

Amanda M. Foster, J.D., associate professor of law at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law, teaches J.D. courses in disability law, insurance law, civil procedure, and legal research and writing. She also teaches patients’ rights and health care ethics in the Nova Southeastern University Master of Science in Health Law program. Her scholarship focuses on disability rights law, insurance coverage issues related to children and adults with disabilities, and public health law issues. Foster’s law review article, “Don’t be Distracted by the Peacock Trying to Board an Airplane: Why Emotional Support Animals are Service Animals and Should be Regulated in the Same Manner” will be published in the Albany Law Review, January 2019 issue. Her composition, “Reasonable Accommodations on the Bar Exam: Leveling the Playing Field or Providing an Unfair Advantage?” is the lead article in the Valparaiso University Law Review, and it was chosen to be included in the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance Monograph Series. Foster has presented her scholarship at the Eleventh Circuit Legal Scholarship Forum held at Stetson University College of Law.

In addition, Foster is a frequent presenter at teaching methods conferences for law school professors, including the Legal Writing Institute One-Day Workshop, the Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference, the Capital Area Legal Writing Conference, the Central States Legal Writing Conference, and the New England Consortium of Legal Writing Teachers Conference. Prior to entering academia, Foster enjoyed a career as a civil litigator in the Princeton, New Jersey area. She represented insurers in complex coverage litigation. Foster also served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Jane Grall in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. Foster is a member of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Bars.

Shelley Green, Ph.D., professor of family therapy in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, is a clinical fellow and approved supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and a licensed family therapist in Florida. Green’s research and teaching interests are in the areas of sexuality, clinical supervision, and equine assisted approaches to clinical work. She has published numerous articles and book chapters, and is co-editor—with Douglas Flemons, Ph.D., NSU professor of family therapy—of Quickies: The Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy. Since 2009, Green has been developing and directing an equine assisted family therapy program at NSU. She created and currently teaches two graduate level courses in equine assisted family therapy. Additionally, she co-founded a local nonprofit organization, Stable Place Equine Assisted Therapies.

Through a collaboration with Stable Place, Green and her colleagues offer training and education in the community as well as clinical services for underserved and at-risk populations. She received a grant from the Ware Foundation in 2016, in partnership with Stable Place and the FIU-BRIDGE program, to conduct research on a clinical program for foster care youth. In 2017, The Quell Foundation awarded scholarship funding for five years to students in the NSU Family Therapy Program. The Quell Foundation currently funds a clinical and research program that Green directs, exploring the impact of equine assisted therapy on at-risk youth from the Pompano Youth Treatment Center. Green has presented nationally and internationally and has published book chapters on her innovative work in this field. In 2014, she was honored as the President’s Distinguished Professor of the Year for the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at NSU, and in 2017 she received this award for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

RSVP to facultysymposium@nova.edu.
Save the Date
Faculty Symposia—February 7, 2019 and March 14, 2019
Holiday Reception—December 6, 2018
End-of-Year Reception—April 19, 2018