Theme: Climate Change and Solutions

Penn State Brandywine's Civic & Community Engagement Club is partnering with TEDx Countdown - a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action - to present TEDxPSUBrandywine.

At this event, Penn State Brandywine faculty, staff and students will speak on climate change solutions through their lens of expertise. Brandywine students, faculty and staff members are encouraged and invited to attend! The event is also open to the public.

Please note – at this time, masks are required indoors on the Penn State Brandywine campus for all individuals, regardless of vaccination status.

The night’s agenda will be as follows:

5:00-6:00pm, Student Union Lion’s Den: Exhibition featuring Media Fair Trade Committee, Transition Town Media and other community partners and student clubs engaged in solving climate change
6:00-6:30pm, Student Union Lion’s Den: Check-in and welcome reception
6:30-8:30pm, Student Union 114-117: Featured speakers’ presentations
Presentations will also be livestreamed in the Student Union dining hall during the event.

Questions about TEDxPSUBrandywine should be directed to bw-engage@psu.edu.

Penn State Brandywine
25 Yearsley Mill Rd
Media, Pennsylvania, 19063
United States

Brisa Luzzi Castro

Student, Intern for Center for Ethics and Civic Engagement, Co-President of the Civic and Community Engagement Club

Brisa Luzzi Castro was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and immigrated to the United States alongside her parents and siblings when she was very young. She is majoring in Global and International Studies with a minor in Civic and Community Engagement at Penn State University. As an immigrant, Latinx, Spanish speaking woman, Brisa’s intersectional cultural background has taught her the value of equity, inclusion, and compassion. This, paired with personal experiences, has empowered Brisa to advocate within and outside of her community. She believes in the power of amplifying voices and change-making no matter how big or small.

David Macauley

Faculty | Associate Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies

David Macauley, Ph.D., received his B.A. in Philosophy and Government from The College of William and Mary and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stony Brook University. He is the author of Elemental Philosophy: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water as Environmental Ideas; editor of Minding Nature: The Philosophers of Ecology; and co-editor of The Seasons: Philosophical, Literary, and Environmental Perspectives. He has published articles on aesthetics, political theory, ancient Greek philosophy, philosophy of technology, and Continental thought. He is presently completing a book entitled Walking: Philosophical and Environmental Foot Notes (IU Press) and editing a collection of essays on our philosophical relationship with and ecological understanding of trees. He has taught at Oberlin College, Emerson College, and New York University and was a Mellon Fellow at University of Pennsylvania. He lives in West Philly, where he bikes, gardens, competes in distance races, and renovates an old Victorian house.

Joshua Marquit

Associate Teaching Professor, Psychology

Joshua Marquit, Ph.D.

Julie Stanton

Professor, Business

Julie Stanton, Ph.D., received her B.S. in Economics from Georgetown University, and her Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Maryland. Dr. Stanton’s expertise is in consumer interest in organic and other niche foods, and in food marketing channels between developing and developed country markets. Dr. Stanton has published in respected peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Research in Consumer Behavior, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, and Supply Chain Management. She serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Macromarketing, is on the Policy Board of the Macromarketing Society, as well as the Board of Directors for the Eastern Academy of Management. She is co-editor of a special issue of the Journal of Macromarketing on quantitative assessment and modeling of macromarketing constructs.

Laura Guertin

Professor, Earth Sciences

Laura Guertin, Ph.D., received her B.A. in Geology from Bucknell University and her Ph.D. in Marine Geology and Geophysics from the UMiami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. Dr. Guertin’s primary research focus is the effective integration of innovative technologies to improve student learning in introductory-level geoscience courses, particularly to improve student scientific literacy, information literacy, and geospatial skills. Research projects have included student-generated audio narratives, ePortolios with Google Earth and ArcGIS Story Maps, and other technological tools for geoscience research and outreach. Her courses cover Earth science topics such as oceanography, climate change, energy, water, and sustainability. PSU has honored Guertin with awards, including the George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching (2006), Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award (2019), and The President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Integration (2020).

Lynn Hartle

Professor of Education, Civic and Community Engagement Minor campus Liaison

Lynn Hartle, Ph.D., majored in Women’s and Black Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, but later transferred to the Thomas Jefferson College at Grand Valley State Colleges in Michigan. She earned a Bachelor of Philosophy and Michigan K –middle school teaching certification. While teaching in the Detroit area, she earned a Montessori Pre-primary certificate. Looking for a new adventure, Lynn founded, taught and directed the Montessori Children's House of Cookeville, Inc. an inclusive PreK- Kindergarten in Cookeville, Tennessee while earning an M.A. in Early Childhood Education with an Early Childhood teaching credential from the Tennessee Technological University. Lynn furthered her education through the doctoral program at The Pennsylvania State University where she earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, Early Childhood emphasis.

Margaret Signorella

Distinguished Professor, Women's Studies | Distinguished Professor, Psychology

Margaret L. Signorella, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor of psychology and women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Penn State Brandywine. Signorella’s teaching and research focus on the development and consequences of gender and other social stereotypes, and in the use of computers and technology. Her teaching also emphasizes involving undergraduates in research. A Penn State alumna, Signorella earned her graduate degrees (M.S. and Ph.D.) from the psychology department at University Park. Her undergraduate psychology degree (B.S., magna cum laude) is from the University of Pittsburgh. She has served twice as the Penn State Greater Allegheny campus director of academic affairs.

Mark Boudreau

Associate Teaching Professor, Biology

Mark Boudreau, Ph.D., received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois-Urbana, an M.S. in Plant Pathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Oregon State University. Since then he has had a varied career of teaching, research, and extension, all revolving around the theme of sustainable agriculture, and applying ecological understanding to food systems. He has worked at a wide range of institutions, from the small liberal arts setting of Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC, where he coordinated the sustainable agriculture program, to his own consulting business, where he headed an effort to develop organic peanut production in the Southeast. At large land-grant universities (NCSU and the UGA) he worked on climate change effects on natural and farming systems. International experience includes graduate work in Kenya, a sabbatical at Imperial University-Wye campus in the U.K., and co-leading a course on sustainability in Bolivia.

MaryFran McLaughlin

Penn State Reference and Instruction Librarian

Mary Frances McLaughlin received her B.S. from Villanova University and her M.L.I.S. from Drexel University. She has worked as a reference and instruction librarian at the Penn State Brandywine Campus since 2000. Additionally, McLaughlin has been an active member of the Delaware County Master Gardeners since completing the Penn State Extension training course in 2011. Her focus, as a home gardener, is the use of native plants in the garden.

Vippy Yee

Rosenberg Director, Center for Ethics & Civic Engagement

Vippy Yee received her B.A. in Political Science and East Asian Studies from Dickinson College and her M.S. in Sociology from The London School of Economics and Political Science at The University of London. Her Master's Thesis explored the mechanisms and impact of social capital within faith-based immigrant community centers. Her scholarly interests include racial and social inequality, social mobility and social movements, and she has prioritized these issues in courses including Social Problems, Urban Sociology, Sociology of Gender, and the Foundations of Civic and Community Engagement. The child of first generation immigrants who grew up under a dictatorship, Vippy is passionate about civic and democratic engagement. Through the Center for Ethics and Civic Engagement, she strives to help prepare students to become engaged leaders in their communities by providing the context, training and opportunities to develop meaningful connections based on mutual respect and dignity.