ENVST 400W, Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies, has been selected by Penn State Brandywine’s Laboratory for Civic Engagement as the first Rosenberg Civic Engagement Course. The course focuses on the interdisciplinary subject of Fair Trade.
To honor and recognize the significant contribution David and Marjorie Rosenberg have made to assist with coordinating and further expanding the civic engagement efforts at Penn State Brandywine, the campus will identify one course each semester (fall and spring) and designate that course the Rosenberg Civic Engagement Course. The course goes above-and-beyond a standard campus civic engagement offering and challenges students to the highest levels, aligning with the Laboratory for Civic Engagement’s mission of citizenship, scholarship, and leadership. The course is selected by the Laboratory Coordinator and the Rosenberg Professor for Leadership and Innovation.
Dr. Laura Guertin, Associate Professor of Earth Science and instructor for ENVST 400W, is thrilled with the honor. “The students certainly have earned this recognition,” she states. “This course demands that students step up as leaders in moving forward the effort to establish Penn State Brandywine as a Fair Trade University. Students have been in conversations with staff on campus, alumni through email and Skype, and have hosted speakers from Fair Trade Towns Media and Fair Trade Towns USA. The students have developed mission and vision statements of Fair Trade on campus, and they will be hosting two Fair Trade events later this semester.” Dr. Guertin encourages everyone to come out for the Fair Trade t-shirt exchange and seminar by Divine Chocolate.
“The students refer to themselves as the Fair Trade Trailblazers,” says Guertin. “And I couldn’t agree more. Not only are they challenging themselves as leaders and engaged citizens, but by being recognized as members of the first Rosenberg Course, they are setting the bar for future student learning and civic engagement on campus and in the local-to-global community.”