Academics

Anner selected as inaugural recipient of Advancing a Global Penn State Award

Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Mark Anner, associate professor of the School of Labor and Employment Relations and director for the Center for Global Workers’ Rights in College of the Liberal Arts, has been named inaugural recipient of the Advancing a Global Penn State: Outstanding International Research Award. Anner was honored at a reception held at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on March 20. 

Last year, the Office of Global Programs established a series of awards designed to recognize Global Programs’ partners within the University community who have been integral in advancing Penn State’s global engagement strategy. 

Selected by members of Global Programs leadership, this award recognizes Anner’s research on the poor working conditions in Central America and Asia and the impact his findings have had on affecting policy. For the last twenty years, Anner has been studying how the purchasing practices of multinational brands and retailers in global supply chains impact the living and working conditions of garment workers, and how workers are responding to these conditions. His field research has taken him to El Salvador, Honduras, Vietnam, Bangladesh and India. 

“His scholarship and activism contributes to international efforts to improve the living and working conditions of millions of people in third world countries and eliminate sweatshops that exploit them,” one nominator noted. “For Professor Anner, this is not just an academic subject that he writes about from half way around the world. His teaching and mentoring of students from the countries where sweatshops are a major source of employment has the potential to have a significant impact on this problem around the globe.”  

“It is an enormous honor to be the inaugural recipient of this award,” Anner stated. “I am deeply grateful to Global Penn State for this recognition. I hope that it helps to shed more light on the need to deepen our research on the causes of, and solutions to, the poor conditions of work for those who labor at the bottom of global supply chains.”

The Office of Global Programs provides support and oversight for all of Penn State's international engagements. Their office manages education abroad programs; hosts international students and scholars; and facilitates the University's many international partnerships around the world.

Last Updated April 15, 2019

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