A legacy of informing, inspiring and empowering:

Long before Cathie had ever heard of the term humane education, she was already practising it. She started her career as an early childhood educator in a preschool classroom — taking students on nature walks, caring for classroom bird feeders, encouraging recycling and helping children understand the animals and environment around them. Like many of us in the humane education field, Cathie reflected that she was “doing humane education before I knew it had a name,”

Looking for a meaningful change, Cathie and her husband discovered Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. While her husband found a job there working in the photography department, Cathie discovered a posting for a role she’d never heard of before: Humane Educator. What began as curiosity eventually turned into her life’s work. 

At Best Friends, Cathie worked alongside Nathania Gartman,founder of the Humane Education Department (as well as co-founding member and past president of APHE), whose experiential approach left a lasting imprint on her work. Humane education, as Cathie learned it, wasn’t about one-off classroom visits or abstract lessons—it was about engaging people in real, meaningful (and age-appropriate) work that mattered.

That work included programs for young people in residential treatment and lockdown facilities. At the sanctuary, they cared for animals, learned why those animals were there, and were invited to see their own value reflected back to them. “They could relate,” Cathie explains, “animals weren’t there because they were bad; they were often there because of circumstances beyond their control. That connection mattered.”

After Nathania’s passing, Cathie continued her legacy, managing the humane education program and expanding her impact through adult education and professional learning. She managed Best Friends’ national conference for more than a decade, and collaborated with Southern Utah University to help develop accredited courses in contemporary animal services.

Among her proudest accomplishments is being part of redesigning  a week-long workshop into what is believed to be the only academically accredited course focused on starting and running a life-saving animal sanctuary — a program created to prepare participants for the realities of the work and a venue to form connections.  

Throughout her career, Cathie has remained grounded in a simple but powerful philosophy: inform, inspire, and empower. Rather than positioning humane education as “knowing better,” she sees it as sharing knowledge, sparking meaning and motivation, and giving people the tools to act.

Her long-standing involvement with APHE reflects that belief. Invited to continue Nathania’s legacy on the board, Cathie served for seven years, including roles as Treasurer and Vice President, and now continues as a senior advisor. She is happy to see that the foundation that APHE has built allows for new ideas and new leaders to keep emerging.

What gives Cathie hope for the future? The people. “The knowledge, passion, and creativity of the next generation of humane educators is incredible.”