{"id":1308,"date":"2025-10-02T18:17:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/?page_id=1308"},"modified":"2025-10-02T18:17:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:17:17","slug":"ellen-rankins","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/ellen-rankins\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Rankins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of a woman in a black button-down shirt smiling in a field.\" class=\"wp-image-1332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-267x400.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-1568x2352.jpg 1568w, https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/198\/2025\/09\/EquineFaculty_2025_Rankins_-9573-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ellen Rankins, Ph.D.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Assistant Professor &amp; Director of Texan Therapeutic Riding<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Email: <a href=\"mailto:erankins@tarleton.edu\" data-type=\"mailto\" data-id=\"mailto:erankins@tarleton.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">erankins@tarleton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phone: <a href=\"tel:2549689847\" data-type=\"tel\" data-id=\"tel:2549689847\">254-968-9847<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Office: Equine 101C<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:6px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Research Interests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Equine Assistant Services<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Equine Welfare<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Undergraduate Education<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B.S. in Animal Sciences &#8211; Equine Science, Auburn University, 2016<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Graduate Education<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>M.S. in Animal Sciences, University of Florida, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ph.D. in Endocrinology &amp; Animal Biosciences, Rutgers University, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professional Biography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Ellen Rankins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Tarleton State University where her research focuses on equine-assisted services (EAS) and equine welfare.&nbsp;She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Auburn University in Animal Sciences \u2013 Equine Science and went on to earn a Master of Science degree at the University of Florida in Animal Sciences and a Ph.D. in Endocrinology and Animal Biosciences from Rutgers University. She also serves as Director of Texan Therapeutic Riding at Tarleton State University. When not in the lab or office, she can be found teaching adaptive or therapeutic riding lessons.&nbsp;Rankins has been a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl.) certified instructor since 2012 and a Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) certified instructor since 2024.&nbsp;Her hours spent in the riding arena have honed her research interests, which have spanned a variety of fields including kinesiology, behavior, and physiology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scholarly Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-advgb-button alignnone\"><a class=\"wp-block-advgb-button_link advgbbtn-779c3009-40bd-4239-a867-294466b16132\" href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=fwaYGLYAAAAJ&amp;hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span><strong>Google Scholar<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<style class=\"advgb-styles-renderer\">.advgbbtn-779c3009-40bd-4239-a867-294466b16132{font-size:18px;color:#4f2d7f !important;background-color:#ffffff !important;margin:0px 0px 0px 0px !important;padding:10px 30px 10px 30px;border-width:4px !important;border-color:#4f2d7f !important;border-style:solid !important;border-radius:25px !important;}.advgbbtn-779c3009-40bd-4239-a867-294466b16132:hover{box-shadow:1px 1px 12px 0px #ccc;opacity:1;transition:all 0.2s ease;}.advgbbtn-779c3009-40bd-4239-a867-294466b16132 > i {font-size:30px;color:inherit;float:left;margin-right:7px;}<\/style>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ellen Rankins, Ph.D. Assistant Professor &amp; Director of Texan Therapeutic Riding Email: erankins@tarleton.edu Phone: 254-968-9847 Office: Equine 101C Research Interests Education Undergraduate Education B.S. in Animal Sciences &#8211; Equine Science, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":580,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1308","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/author\/swdmcelyea\/","display_name":"swdmcelyea"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 7 months ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 2, 2025","modified":"Updated on October 2, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 2, 2025 6:17 pm","modified":"Updated on October 2, 2025 6:17 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","featured_img":false,"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1308"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1361,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1308\/revisions\/1361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/animal-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}