Kim Hightower
Community Fellow and Associate EditorBiography
Kim is an advocate for humans, nonhumans and the environment. She promotes animal wellbeing using insights from social psychology and ecopsychological that emphasize empathy, compassion and ethical capacity building. She joined PAN Works as a communications specialist, and is now the Associate Editor for our Medium column.
She grew up feeling safest in nature and cherished the opportunity in school to read and analyze literature. On a changing planet, she is motivated by a longing to protect the natural world with all of the interconnections it nurtures in the community of life. She believes that people and animals have the potential to thrive together through mixed communities across landscapes. Key to our mutual wellbeing is a paradigm shift in human consciousness.
While working as a facilitator and ally in the disability community, Kim earned her Masters of Science in Anthrozoology from Canisius College and Certificate in Humane Education from the University of Denver. She also has certifications in applied animal behaviour (University of Washington, Seattle), ecotherapy (Earth Body Institute), and is a master naturalist (Montana Natural History Center). She loves to work on behalf of others through writing and facilitating, and her interests take shape through education; community engagement; and creative-academic storytelling for social change. In hopes of reaching wider audiences, she has engaged both schools and animal sanctuaries with humane and conservation education programming.
As Associate Editor, Kim is a team lead for the Medium alongside Bill Lynn and Julie Urbanik. This involves fielding pitches, soliciting contributions, curating content, and editing articles. Through this work she helps PAN Works communicate the science and ethics of human-animal interactions, and explore how we ought to live with people, animals and nature.