About Jody
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Dr. Josephine (Jody) Olsen, PhD, served as the 20th Director of the Peace Corps between March, 2018 – January, 2021. With the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Olsen made the unprecedented decision to evacuate all 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers and bring them safely back to the United States. Dr. Olsen also championed global women’s economic empowerment, opened Peace Corps in a new country, Viet Nam, and re-opened three countries in which Peace Corps had previously served.
Dr. Olsen began her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer, serving as an education Volunteer in Tunisia from 1966-1968. She has also served the agency as Acting Director (2009), Deputy Director (2002-2009), Chief of Staff (1989-1992), Regional Director (1981-1984), and Country Director (1979-1981).
Prior to returning to the Peace Corps in 2018, Dr. Olsen was Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore School of Social Work and Director of the University’s Center for Global Education for eight years where she developed and directed inter-professional global health projects for health graduate students, oversaw health research projects in ten different countries, and taught international graduate courses.
