Center for Global Education

Jesse Phillips joined the CGE staff as the Assistant Director in 2019, and was promoted to Interim Director in 2022. In addition to advising students on their global study plans, he overseas strategic and operational planning for global education activities, develops partnerships and policies, collaborates with faculty and staff on curriculum integration, grants and other professional development opportunities. Jesse also serves the College on the following committees: International and Global Studies Committee, International Travel Review Advisory Committee, Enrollement Transition Working Group, and Global Study Programs Committee (Chair).

Jesse has been working in international education for over 10 years. Before coming to Gettysburg College, he managed immigration, exchange, and semester abroad programs at Robert Morris University. Prior to that he worked as an International Student Adviser at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) while completing his M.A. in Student Affairs in Higher Education. He also holds a M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University (SHU) with a focus on international law and European integration. While at SHU he worked for the Darfur Victim’s Project, the Friends of the Freie Universität Berlin in the New York City German consulate, the Center for Global Health at SHU, and participated in a faculty-led program to France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands to study the institutions of the European Union. Jesse also holds a BA in Political Science from IUP.

Originally from northern California, Jesse experienced the largest culture shock of his life when he moved to central Pennsylvania with his family at the age of 14. He has studied abroad four times in Europe, taught English and American culture to German Mechanical Engineering students, and interned for the Heinrich Böll Stiftung NRW (a political foundation of the German Green party) in Dortmund, Germany, where he met one of his heroes, Joschka Fischer. Jesse served as the inaugural Advocacy Representative for NAFSA Region VIII from 2017 - 2019, and currently serves as the Treasurer on the Pennsylvania Council for International Education (PACIE) Board of Directors Executive Committee. He is passionate about international education because he shares Senator Fulbright’s belief that intercultural exchange is an important “avenue of hope” towards world peace. Jesse is an Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiker (2010) and when he’s not at work, he’s (hopefully) outside enjoying the natural beauty of the Appalachians.