A Global Guardian: Environmental Engineer Christine LaBerge ’99

Africa is one of several places dear to the heart of Christine LaBerge ’99. From her first visit during a three-week Lehigh program over a winter break to traveling there for her work over the past 14 years, LaBerge has experienced many international opportunities. By supporting her diverse interests and giving her an individualized education and global perspective, Lehigh propelled LaBerge into a unique career in ecotourism and environmental engineering.

A Well-Rounded Opportunity

From her hometown in Westminster, Colorado, LaBerge came to Lehigh for its engineering program. “I wanted the flexibility to pursue music [piano and oboe], but as a non-music major. I chose Lehigh for its great engineering program,” she says.

LaBerge graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering and a minor in education. She went on to get a master’s in business administration in change management from the University of Colorado Denver in 2006.  Lehigh gave LaBerge a great start towards her career, with dedicated professors who not only encouraged her to explore various paths within engineering, but who also supported her music interests and encouraged her to be a well-rounded person.

Travel Changed Her Career Focus

LaBerge first traveled to Africa during winter break of 1997, when she visited Ghana with a group of education majors. “It was a life-changing experience and really fueled my love of international travel and engineering education in developing countries,” she says. Her second trip was during winter break of 1998, when she traveled to Costa Rica with a group of civil engineering majors and developed additional expertise in sustainable energy and ecotourism programs. “It completely changed the course of my professional focus,” she adds. 

LaBerge began her career in private-sector engineering, working on large-scale environmental cleanup projects like the Superfund sites, abandoned mine lands mitigation, and water system design. “It was extremely rewarding, and I was able to gain a tremendous amount of experience there.”

For the past 14 years, she has worked for the USDA Forest Service. As the Rocky Mountain Region senior civil engineer, she has led complex engineering projects, but the most interesting part of her work has been her return to Africa to lead several international projects.  

“My engineering practice has focused on large-scale project management, advanced engineering design, site remediation, and comprehensive site development,” LaBerge says. “I have also served as a detailer/specialist for the Forest Service Washington Office as the National Facility Program assistant director, helping to create and implement programs nationwide.”

Engineering a Global Impact

In 2019, she began expanding her role at the Forest Service to serve as a technical expert for projects in the International Programs group. “I have focused on technical civil engineering support for a variety of countries in Africa, including designing sanctuaries for cranes and elephants in Rwanda and Malawi, providing expertise on irrigation systems for small communities through a Disaster Assistance Support Program in Malawi, developing ecotourism trails and programs to three different areas of Liberia, and developing programs to support dewatering of historic monuments and development of urban gardens in Egypt.”

Challenges Fuel Growth

LaBerge explains that she was one of just a handful of graduating women civil engineers at Lehigh in 1999. The vast majority of her class was men. “While this has gotten easier as more women have pursued careers in STEM, it was very difficult in the earlier years of my career. I dealt with sexual harassment, assumptions that I wasn't as committed as my male peer engineers, and held to much higher standards of achievement for promotions. During my international travels with the US Forest Service, I am often the only female technical person/engineer. It has been amazing to see young women in the community (especially in Malawi) react to a female engineer. They are surprised, intrigued, and often excited to see that women can serve in these technical fields. It's very exciting to me to be a visible role model to these young women to show them that women can hold these positions.”

Making Music Together

Not only did LaBerge receive a degree from Lehigh, she met her husband, Travis ’98, on campus. They first met in 1996 in a history class called Romantic Music, but it wasn’t until they encountered each other again during his Presidential Scholar year that the two started dating. After only four months, in January 1999, he proposed to her on the stage of Baker Hall. She said yes, and after she graduated that spring, the couple moved to Colorado and married in the mountains there. Two near-college-age kids and 23 years later, they’re still making beautiful music together.

They continue to perform classical piano concerts and started Colorado's largest stand-alone nonprofit music school. They have earned numerous awards for their outstanding contributions to the arts community in Boulder and Broomfield.

The LaBerges are still in contact with several professors from the music department, and they travel back to Lehigh every few years to see them. “We recently brought our kids (ages 15 and 17) to tour the university and show them where we met. We were even able to bring them into Baker Hall and show them where Travis proposed to me. Lehigh is a very special place to us.”