Netherlands Study Abroad Program

From Sea to Shining Sea: Exploration of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives at the Ports of Washington and the Netherlands

In this study abroad program, I spent the end of the summer of 2019 studying the Port of Tacoma, Seattle, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam to understand each port’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental initiatives. Before going abroad, we had the opportunity to meet with the Communications and Marketing departments at the Ports of Tacoma and Seattle to learn more about their environmental initiatives and tour around their facility. We spent 10 days in the Netherlands visiting the Ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam where we learned about the history, current, and future practices of their sustainability and social responsibility initiatives. In addition, we learned more in depth about how the U.S. culture and Dutch culture differ, and affects business practices and every day lifestyle. At the end of our program, we had to create a grade report based on the ports’ CSR and environmental initiatives which our professors, Evelyn Shankus and Joe Lawless, presented to the Port of Tacoma and Seattle.