UNESCO chair joins Penn State Global

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mark Brennan, professor of leadership and community development, currently serves as UNESCO Chair in Global Citizenship Education for Peace through Youth and Community Engagement at Penn State. Recently, the chair has moved from its seat in the College of Agricultural Sciences to now sit within Penn State Global.

“The Penn State UNESCO Chair program has continued to grow and expand in response to domestic and international needs. While continuing our work in the areas of youth and community engagement, the chair has expanded to more directly advance global citizenship education where youth and communities are agents of change towards peace and building of civil societies,” said President Neeli Bendapudi in a letter of support for the UNESCO program. “Under Professor Brennan’s continued leadership, and the new strategic placement of the UNESCO Chair within Penn State Global, we are confident that the UNESCO Chair will grow further and advance the programmatic relevance of both our organizations.”

“This is truly transformational for UNESCO and Penn State,” said Brennan. “We are so honored to partner with and become part of the Penn State Global family.  The opportunities are growing exponentially and together we will launch a wide range of efforts to advance the global engagement of our students and faculty.”

About the UNESCO Chair

According to its website, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) “seeks to build peace through international cooperation in education, sciences and culture.” Its programs center around the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The organization focuses on providing real and impactful opportunities for engagement and development in the areas of education, science and culture to its 193 member countries.

A UNESCO chair provides opportunities for connection, funding and program support from UNESCO to create and implement programs on an international level. It is a way to provide opportunities for research to create impact on a broad scale in a short amount of time.

Penn State holds two chairs — Brennan’s and one held by Osama Awadelkarim in the College of Engineering.

The chair’s move to Penn State Global

Moving the position to Penn State Global offers some distinct advantages for the UNESCO Chair’s work to contribute to the priorities of Penn State Global and for Brennan’s initiatives to reach across the University, according to Sabine Klahr, interim vice provost for Penn State Global.

"We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Dr. Mark Brennan to Penn State Global in his capacity as UNESCO Chair for Global Citizenship Education for Peace through Youth and Community Engagement,“ Klahr said. “Dr. Brennan’s work dovetails with and enhances programming and initiatives across Penn State Global. His expertise and contributions enrich and advance our work in global engagement. I am also delighted that we can assist with expanding the UNESCO connection and Dr. Brennan’s work to a broader audience across the University.”

For example, Klahr said, Brennan is working with Penn State Global to create infrastructure and funding at the University to bring refugee students to Penn State to advance their academic careers and personal/professional growth. Similarly, the chair will also be working with the Scholars at Risk program. This initiative focuses on preventing threats to academic freedoms and assistance and placement of refugee scholars at Penn State.

“[The chair] allows Penn State to be a major player in shaping global educational programming and policy,” said Brennan. “Penn State is one of the greatest universities in terms of producing new knowledge and discovery. I’m so honored to stand to be counted with Osama as the only university hosting two UNESCO Chairs — his work is truly groundbreaking and transformational.”

Recent accolades

Brennan is no stranger to making significant global impact, as he was recently awarded the UNESCO Janusz Korczak Jubilee Medal, an award reserved for those who are “most involved with human rights, youth rights, and education for peace,” according to the description of the honor. This award came in large part due to the activities of the Youth-as-Researchers program, which was developed to ensure that youth voices are heard in programming and policy decisions.

“Over 50% of the planet is under age 25,” Brennan said. “We’ve got to engage them.”

The program took a graduate level social science research methods course and worked with young people to put it into usable language. Using this training, they then go on to conduct research on topics of their choosing. Brennan and his co-facilitators provide advice when asked, but do not tell them what to study or how to study it; they have complete ownership. At the end of their research project, they have data and that is “hard to ignore," Brennan said.

While youth and community development will continue to be at the core of the chair’s work, Brennan said he is excited to expand to focus on global citizenship as a platform for peace-building.

“The chair program presents some amazing opportunities that align with our land-grant mission.  We encourage any members of our University community to contacts us to explore ways to collaborate and better engage with both Penn State Global and our international organization partners,” said Brennan. 

For more information on the UNESCO Chair, contact Brennan at unesco@psu.edu.