About the UNESCO Chair
Professor Mark Brennan
Dr. Mark Brennan is the UNESCO Chair on Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Peace through Youth and Community Engagement and Professor of Leadership and Community Development at the Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Brennan’s teaching, research, writing, and program development concentrate on the role of civic engagement, community, and leadership development in the youth and community development process. His work has also increasingly focused on the role of citizens across the lifespan as active contributors to peace building, social justice, and functioning societies. Dr. Brennan was a Fulbright Specialist in 2012 and a Fulbright Scholar in 2021/22.
Dr. Brennan has nearly 30 years of experience in designing, conducting, and analyzing social science research related to community and youth development. This work has involved extensive comparative research throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia and Central America. He is co-founder of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Children, Youth, and Community. All research outputs have been translated into teaching and outreach curriculum to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to a wider international audience, as well as published in nearly 200 peer reviewed journal articles, UN publications and Extension/Outreach publications.
All research outputs have been translated into teaching and outreach curriculum to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to a wider international audience, as well as published in over one hundred peer reviewed journals and publications. His recent books include Theory, Practice, and Community Development (2013), Community Leadership Development: A Compendium of Theory, Research, and Application (2013), Culture, Community and Development (2021), and Creating Caring Communities to Overcome Times of Crisis (2022).
Most importantly, he has been very active in student mentorship. At the graduate level, he has served on over 100 graduate student committees.
Contact Dr. Brennan
Professor Mark Brennan
Dr. Mark Brennan is the UNESCO Chair on Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Peace through Youth and Community Engagement and Professor of Leadership and Community Development at the Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Brennan’s teaching, research, writing, and program development concentrate on the role of civic engagement, community, and leadership development in the youth and community development process. His work has also increasingly focused on the role of citizens across the lifespan as active contributors to peace building, social justice, and functioning societies. Dr. Brennan was a Fulbright Specialist in 2012 and a Fulbright Scholar in 2021/22.
Dr. Brennan has nearly 30 years of experience in designing, conducting, and analyzing social science research related to community and youth development. This work has involved extensive comparative research throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia and Central America. He is co-founder of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Children, Youth, and Community. All research outputs have been translated into teaching and outreach curriculum to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to a wider international audience, as well as published in nearly 200 peer reviewed journal articles, UN publications and Extension/Outreach publications.
All research outputs have been translated into teaching and outreach curriculum to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to a wider international audience, as well as published in over one hundred peer reviewed journals and publications. His recent books include Theory, Practice, and Community Development (2013), Community Leadership Development: A Compendium of Theory, Research, and Application (2013), Culture, Community and Development (2021), and Creating Caring Communities to Overcome Times of Crisis (2022).
Most importantly, he has been very active in student mentorship. At the graduate level, he has served on over 100 graduate student committees.
Contact Dr. Brennan
What We Do
A third of the worlds population is under age 15, and half of all citizens are under age 25! In this setting there is a well-documented need for community, leadership, and youth development research, teaching, and programming particularly in developing countries to make a difference.
This UNESCO Chair on Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Peace through Youth and Community Engagement supports UNESCO's priorities for addressing the specific issues and needs of youth and communities.
- We work to create opportunities for youth worldwide to improve their lives and communities. Our proven research, education, and outreach programs focus on three key interrelated areas:
- Youth development and empowerment
- Community capacity building in which youth play a central role
- Activism oriented toward social justice, change and equality
- We lead change through high-quality, evidence-based research; innovative educational programs; effective policy advice and high-impact national and international partnerships. Through this process, citizens are empowered to take ownership of local decision-making and shape efforts to meet local needs. Communities are made stronger, more resilient and more sustainable.
- We serve as a significant bridge builder between universities, researchers and international policy-makers. A key strength is our vast network of diverse world-renowned experts in the areas of youth, leadership, community and rural development.
- We address and directly contribute to the objectives of the UNESCO Education for All agenda. The Education for All (EFA) movement is a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults. Located at the Pennsylvania State University, we have at our full disposal the resources and infrastructure of a leading U.S. research university and over 100 faculty and subject matter experts from a variety of areas are affiliated with the program.
- Beyond Penn State, hundreds of leading researchers, teachers, policymakers and practitioners throughout the UNESCO system can be immediately engaged to achieve our goals. We presently have partnerships with universities, NGOs and government agencies in more than 40 countries on six continents.
What We Do
A third of the worlds population is under age 15, and half of all citizens are under age 25! In this setting there is a well-documented need for community, leadership, and youth development research, teaching, and programming particularly in developing countries to make a difference.
This UNESCO Chair on Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Peace through Youth and Community Engagement supports UNESCO's priorities for addressing the specific issues and needs of youth and communities.
- We work to create opportunities for youth worldwide to improve their lives and communities. Our proven research, education, and outreach programs focus on three key interrelated areas:
- Youth development and empowerment
- Community capacity building in which youth play a central role
- Activism oriented toward social justice, change and equality
- We lead change through high-quality, evidence-based research; innovative educational programs; effective policy advice and high-impact national and international partnerships. Through this process, citizens are empowered to take ownership of local decision-making and shape efforts to meet local needs. Communities are made stronger, more resilient and more sustainable.
- We serve as a significant bridge builder between universities, researchers and international policy-makers. A key strength is our vast network of diverse world-renowned experts in the areas of youth, leadership, community and rural development.
- We address and directly contribute to the objectives of the UNESCO Education for All agenda. The Education for All (EFA) movement is a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults. Located at the Pennsylvania State University, we have at our full disposal the resources and infrastructure of a leading U.S. research university and over 100 faculty and subject matter experts from a variety of areas are affiliated with the program.
- Beyond Penn State, hundreds of leading researchers, teachers, policymakers and practitioners throughout the UNESCO system can be immediately engaged to achieve our goals. We presently have partnerships with universities, NGOs and government agencies in more than 40 countries on six continents.
