1. Invited Speaker. Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Waukesha, November 2023.

  2. Invited Speaker: “Elephant Trails.” Conference: “Integrating Elephants into More-than-Human Narratives.” Université Lyon III Jean Moulin, Lyon, France, June 2023.

  3. Keynote Address. “Elephant Trails: A Personal Journey.” Annual Paideia Conference. Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia, April, 2023,

  4. Invited Speaker. Panel: “Giving Voice to Animals,” Penn State University, Center for American Literary Studies and Centre Country Reads, February, 2023.

  5. Invited Speaker. Conference: “A Wilder Kingdom,” Arizona State University, Center for Biology and Society, and Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, November, 2021.

  6. Invited Speaker. “The Last Elephant House,” co-presentation with Dick Blau for the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, November, 2019.

  7. Invited Speaker. “The Elephant in the Archive,” Conference: “Traces of the Animal Past: Methodological Challenges in Animal History,” York University, Toronto, Ontario, November, 2019.

  8. Invited Speaker. “Images of Animals in Zoos,” College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, April, 2019.

  9. Invited Speaker. “The Bone Archive,” Human-Animal Studies Summer Institute, Center for Advanced Study, University of at Urbana-Champaign, July 2017.

  10. Invited Speaker. “A Home for Antelopes,” Conference: “Zoo Studies and the New Humanities,” McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, December, 2016.

  11. Invited Speaker. “Off Exhibit / Research Collection,” Symposium: “Animals in the Archive,” University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October, 2016.

  12. Invited Speaker. “The (Re)Introduction of the Przewalski’s Horse,” Conference: The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, November, 2015.

  13. Invited Speaker. “Saving a ‘Prehistoric Horse,’” Shannon Lecture, Carleton College, Ottawa, Ontario, November, 2014.

  14. Invited Speaker. “Questioning Reintroduction: A Case Study,” Arizona State University / Marine Biological Laboratory Workshop on the History of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, May, 2014.

  15. Invited Speaker. “Making the Przewalski’s Horse,” Animal Studies Workshop, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, February, 2014.

  16. Keynote Address. “Elephants and Keepers,” “Animal Representation,” The Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop on Animal Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan February, 2013.

  17. Invited Speaker. “Elephant House,” Conference: “Animals in Society: The MU Cross-Disciplinary Project,” University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, April, 2012.

  18. Invited Speaker. “History and Elephants,” A. W. Mellon Workshop in Animal Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, March, 2012.

  19. Keynote Address. “The Elephant Remains,” 20th Annual Conference of the International Society for Anthrozoology, Indianapolis, Indiana, August, 2011.

  20. Keynote Address. “Elephants without History,” 4th Biennial Australian Animal Studies Group Conference, Brisbane, Queensland, July, 2011.

  21. Invited Speaker. “From Taxonomy to Conservation – Saving the Przewalski’s Horse,” Science and Zoos Workshop, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, June, 2011.

  22. Respondent, “Animals as Objects and Signs,” Invited Speaker, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, June, 2011.

  23. Respondent, Garry Marvin’s Professorial Inaugural Address, Roehampton University, London, England, May, 2011.

  24. Keynote Address. “Preserving Animals in Time,” “Animal Movements: Moving Animals,” Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, May, 2010.

  25. Invited Speaker. “Trophies and Remorse: Shooting with Mixed Feelings in the Nineteenth Century,” Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan, March, 2010.

  26. Invited Speaker. “Delia and the Elephant: Hunting and Taxidermy,” Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, February, 2010.

  27. Invited Speaker. “Taxidermy and Taxonomy,” Conference: “Finding Animals: Toward a Comparative History and Theory of Animals,” Pennsylvania State University, April-May, 2009.\

  28. Invited Speaker. “In Search of Germans, Butterflies, and History in Papua New Guinea,” American Geographic Society Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October, 2008.

  29. Invited Speaker. “Articulating the Animal: Writing the Life and Mind of Primates,” Conference: “Writing Science at the Writing University,” University of Iowa, October, 2008.

  30. Invited Speaker. “The Mirror in the Eye: Making Sense of Elephants,” University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, December, 2007.

  31. Keynote Address. “The Cry of a Thousand Thousand Geese,” “The Other Animals: Situating the Non-Human in Russian Culture and History,” Virginia Tech and Bates College, Roanoke, VA, May, 2007.

  32. Invited Speaker. “Following the Spoor / Writing History,” Meeting I: British Animal Studies Network, London. May, 2007.

  33. Invited Speaker. “Engaging the Critics,” Conference: “Zoo Experiences: The Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conservation,” Symposium at the Zoological Society of London, London, May, 2007.

  34. Invited Speaker. “Rogue: Understanding Violent Elephants in the Nineteenth Century,” Conference: “Victorian Animal,” CUNY Graduate Center, New York, May, 2007.

  35. Invited Speaker. “The Elephant in the Room: Animals and History,” Humanities Centre and History Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, March, 2007.

  36. Invited Speaker. “Looking at Elephants,” Conference: “Envisioning Animals,” York University, Toronto, Canada, February, 2007.

  37. Keynote Address, National Conference of the American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK), Chicago, September, 2006.

  38. Invited Speaker. “Faking Nature and the Origins of Conservation in Zoos,” Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo), New York, July, 2006.

  39. Invited Speaker. “An Historian’s View of Animals,” Annual Conference of the Circus Historical Society, Sarasota, Florida, May, 2006.

  40. Invited Speaker. “Animals, History, and Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions,” Symposium: “Animal Humanities,” University of Texas at Austin, April, 2006.

  41. Invited Speaker. “Looking Back,” German Historical Institute Conference: “Animals in History,” Köln, Germany, May, 2005.

  42. Invited Speaker. “Creating the Sublime: Animals and Landscape,” Conference: “Modern German Environmental History in European Perspective,” Harvard University’s Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, May, 2003.

  43. Invited Speaker. “From Elephas horribilis to Elephas sentiens,” Conference: “Never Forgetting: Elephants and Ethics,” Conservation and Research Center, Front Royal, Virginia, March, 2003.

  44. Invited Speaker. “Thinking about Elephants,” Seminar, University of Wisconsin History of Science Department, February, 2003.

  45. Invited Speaker. “The Revolutions of HagenbeckConference: “250 Jahre Zoologischer Garten, Schönbrunn,” University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, October, 2002.

  46. Invited Speaker. “Lota: An Elephant’s Life,” “Animal Arenas,” ISAZ (International Society of Anthrozoology) Annual Conference, University College, London, London, England, August, 2002.

  47. Invited Speaker. “The Responsibilities of Zoos,” Panelist with David Hancocks, Joel Parrott, and Ron Kagan, Conference: “The War on Wildlife,” Performing Animal Welfare Society, Sacramento, California. May, 2002.

  48. Invited Speaker. “Excelsior: The Birth of the Zoo,” University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, April, 2002.

  49. Invited Speaker. “Caring about Lota: An Enlightenment Legacy,” Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, July, 2001.

  50. Invited Speaker. “Catching Animals and Animal Catchers,” Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, November, 1996.