By Eric Lippe, Magazine Editor
When Brad Lancaster began working for Gettysburg College ten years ago, there were 48 international students. Today, there are 248.
Lancaster, though he tends to go by Brad, began working for the college in 2013 as the inaugural Director of International Student Services (ISS). According to Lancaster, his intention was to make the ISS a “home away from home for international students.” The motivation to offer these services to students from around the world did not come by accident. Lancaster recounted his time as an English teacher in Taiwan.
“I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know how to set up a bank account. I didn’t know how to set up a phone. I didn’t know how to call the United States. I didn’t know how to speak Chinese. I didn’t know, you know, culturally, why people were doing certain things,” Lancaster said.
Luckily, Lancaster was helped by a woman named Cynthia, who worked as a secretary for the school he taught at.
“[She] helped me through all that stuff, and I always think back and was like ‘God, I would have been in big trouble without Cynthia,’” Lancaster said.
From that moment on, Lancaster knew the importance of having a supportive and welcoming foundation for international students, and he wanted to become that: “I want to be Cynthia for students coming to our country and make sure they’re welcome and that things are taken care of, because I remembered what it was like to not yet not know how to do all those things.”
At the core of Lancaster’s philosophy for the ISS is building a community for international students. Lancaster feels that the “family atmosphere” that Gettysburg College provides, where “everybody is friendly, and nice and approachable, and remembers your name, and thinks about you—cares about you,” is vital to the success and growth of the international student community.
“It serves international students really well to feel like, ‘I have a home here. I have people that care about me here. I’m not alone,’” said Lancaster.
Brad Lancaster outside the ISS Office. (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
A truly strong community cannot be limited to the nine to five schedule that most Gettysburg departments follow, which is why Lancaster takes it upon himself to give to international students whenever he can.
“I don’t know any other International Student Advisor around the country who freely gives out their cell phone number—you know, very few—and is answering WeChat and WhatsApp messages, day and night,” said Lancaster. “I guess that goes back to me not thinking this is a job necessarily. If a student really needs my help at nine o’clock and I have a little bit of free time, I’m going to help them out.”
This attitude has clearly had an impact on the international student community, a fact that is reflected by the students.
“Brad is more than just an advisor; he is a mentor and a friend to many of us. His approachability and genuine interest in our well-being makes international students feel valued and heard,” said Meriem Hamioui ’25. Hamioui is the house leader of International House and an international student herself.
With hundreds of students from 52 nations, the diversity of needs and cultures is broad, even for someone as experienced as Lancaster. Even still, Hamioui feels that Lancaster navigates it well.
“One of Brad’s remarkable contributions is his dedication to building a sense of community among international students,” said Hamioui. “He organizes events and gatherings that celebrate our diverse backgrounds, fostering connections among students from various parts of the world. This sense of belonging has a profound impact on our overall well-being, helping us integrate into American college life while preserving our unique cultural identities.”
The care that Lancaster offers has resulted in a community that is less like a department and more like a family.
“I’ve been called the International Students’ Gettysburg dad,” Lancaster said. “I’m proud of that.”
Even though the ISS faces many of the same hurdles as other departments, the work of a truly dedicated department makes the difference.
“I often think like, if my daughters went to school in China, I would want someone like me there helping them, keeping them challenged, supporting them, mentoring them. And that would make me feel really good as a parent,” Lancaster said.
Lancaster believes that the dramatic increase in the international student population is a direct result of prioritizing a strong community.
“The college has put the resources into getting the word out that it’s a great place to go, yes, but I also think we are experiencing kind of a grassroots word of mouth phenomenon right now,” said Lancaster. “[When] they’re successful, [when] they do well, they talk about it on Instagram, people from their high school see that and hear about it and think, ‘Wow, he’s having a great time there. He’s doing really great things, and you know, seems to be flourishing– maybe I’ll apply… So the next year, we had a few more people, and then they’re all doing well, and they’re posting and it becomes sort of a self-fulfilling kind of admission cycle.”
When asked how both domestic and international students could forge intercultural relationships, Lancaster said that the answer for everyone is to stay curious.
“Be more curious about somebody who’s different from you, and in this case with international students, somebody from a different culture, somebody that doesn’t look like you, that doesn’t speak the same native language you do. The more curious you are about that person, the more questions you ask, the more deeply you’ll get to know them, the better chance you’ll have of making a genuine intercultural friendship,” said Lancaster.
He emphasized that this isn’t just for the well-being of international students or for the education of domestic students—intercultural relationships benefit everyone. By forming more intercultural relationships, “Everybody—not just international students would have a much more fulfilling experience at Gettysburg College. To be curious–that’s always been my advice,” said Lancaster.
This article originally appeared on pages 12 to 13 of the October 2023 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
