Elise Moersch

Bio

Before joining SDSU, Elise S. Moersch was the Director of Special Projects for the Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). Since 2008, she has worked university-wide with faculty, deans, alumni and friends of the university to secure private funding for scholarships, research, and program related activities.

Prior to this appointment, she was Pitt’s executive director of international alumni relations and development. In this role, she oversaw international fundraising and alumni activities. While at Pitt, she worked closely with development and senior staff to set priorities and devise strategies for fund-raising activities and was a senior team member in Pitt’s successful $2 billion campaign, Building our Future Together.

Before coming to Pitt, she was executive director of the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania for twelve years, serving on the executive council of Japan Societies worldwide. During the 1980s, she lived and worked in Asia and Europe while her husband flew F-15s for the Air Force. During these assignments, she studied Japanese and German language while holding jobs as varied as program director for the USO in Okinawa, Japan to manager of a British luxury shop in Bitburg, Germany. Elise holds a BS in Economics, a MS in International Relations, and an EdD in Education. Her dissertation research focused on Chinese students’ satisfaction with their US undergraduate and graduate experiences at US universities.