3693 - Building Trust Across Communities: What We Learn from the Peace Corp (Jody Olsen)
Course Description
Instructor: Jody Olsen
We can rebuild community connections by respecting and trusting others and acknowledging our own vulnerabilities. Peace Corps’ 64 years of service in 142 countries succeed by individual Americans integrating into host country communities through trust and respect. This model can be applied here at home to renew connections across individual and community differences.
Bio: Josephine (Jody) Olsen served as Peace Corps Director, 2018 – 2021. In March, 2020, because of the COVID pandemic, she led the successful nine-day evacuation of all 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers from 61 countries to the US, never done before.
Jody was a Peace Corps Volunteer, Tunisia, 1966-1968, and has served the agency in five other senior positions, including Country Director (Togo), Regional Director (Europe and Asia) and Deputy Director. Her memoir about her decades of Peace Corps service, A Million Miles, My Peace Corps Journey, is available through the U of U Press and Amazon.
For a decade, Jody was Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore and director of the Center for Global Engagement. In the 90’s, she was Director of the organization that manages the Fulbright Senior Scholar Program. Today she co-chairs Women of Peace Corps Legacy (WPCL), and is chair of the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation Park Advisory Committee and the Univ. of MD, College of Education Board of Visitors, and is on the Maryland Governor’s Commission for Service and Volunteerism.
Jody received a BS from the University of Utah, and a Master’s and PhD from the University of Maryland. Her many awards include University of Maryland President’s Award, University of Utah’s alumni of the year award, and three honorary doctorates. She has also been a Resident Fellow at the IOP Harvard Kennedy School.