Frank Plantan

Dr. Frank Plantan is an established leader and innovator in international education, program development and cross-cultural exchanges with a proven track record in pioneering new educational, internship, and research programs in Europe and Asia creating and employing professional networks bridging diverse institutions and organizations.

Currently, he serves as the Co-Director of the International Relations Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education and Masters in International Relations. He took his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Illinois State University. His portfolio includes eighteen years as the Director of the Penn-in-Seoul Study Abroad and Internship Program, and ten years as Executive Secretary of the International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility and Democracy (a joint project of the Council of Europe and the University of Pennsylvania). He also serves as the President of the Sigma Iota Rho Honor Society for International Studies, as well as the General Raporteur for the Council of Europe on a seventeen-nation comparative research project, Universities as Sites of Citizenship and Civic Responsibility.