SPRING 2008 Community College Magazine - Northampton ...

ALumNi prOFiLe Politics Got His Vote
Chief of Staff
George McElwee ’94, from NCC cubicle to DC power center. By Rebecca Hess’03
GEORGE MCELWEE HAS
the job that many with an
eye on the political life
just dream of. As chief
of staff for Pennsylvania
Congressman Charlie Dent,
who represents the 15th
Congressional District,
the Northampton
44 NCC ● SPRING 2008
Community College alumnus
manages the day-to-day
operations of the congressman’s
offi ces in Washington,
D.C., Bethlehem and East
Greenville. Based in the
Washington offi ce, McElwee
is a senior policy advisor
for Dent, and also oversees
the administrative business
of the office.
Politics was an easy
choice for McElwee. While
at NCC in 1993 and 1994, he
served as vice chairman of
the Student Senate where, he
says, he loved the activities
as well as the connections to
students and staff. “Student
Senate had a cubicle in
the student activities
center,” he remembers.
“We would all gather
there between
classes and hang
out. They
were good times, and we
were all friends.”
McElwee credits NCC
with providing a strong
foundation for his goals.
“I would urge students to
take advantage of what
Northampton has to offer,”
he says. “There is so much
here, and the faculty and
staff are willing to help in
any way they can.”
As a political science
major, McElwee transferred
from NCC to Shippensburg
University of Pennsylvania
and graduated with a
bachelor of arts degree in
1998. He continued his
education and received a
graduate certificate in political
management from
George Washington University
in Washington, D.C.
“Northampton prepared me
to accomplish any education
goal I set out to achieve,”
McElwee recalls.
After graduating from
Shippensburg, McElwee returned
to NCC for a bit; but
this time, not as a student.
He was hired by the office
of residence life to live on
campus as the residence hall
director. “It was a great honor
to come back and work for
Northampton after having
been a student just a few
years earlier,” he said. In
1999, he moved to Washington
to work for Pennsylvania
Senator Rick Santorum,
gaining invaluable experience
in an elected offi cial’s
office.
McElwee then spent
several years working as a director
of federal government
affairs for a Washingtonbased
trade association
representing the fi nancial services
industry. That position
gained him valuable exposure
to the private sector’s involvement
on Capitol Hill. In
2004, McElwee volunteered
on then-state Senator Charlie
Dent’s campaign for the U.S.
House of Representatives.
And that step turned into the
fulfillment of his dream.
“My goal throughout
my professional life had
always been to achieve the
position as a chief of staff to
a congressman or senator,”
McElwee says. “I sought out
other chiefs of staff from
other offices, talking to them,
and looking for information
that would help me achieve
my goal.”
The campaign was difficult
and required a lot of
hard work, but McElwee
knew that it was important
work. He had grown up in
Bethlehem Township, and the
“Township” as it is known, is
PHOTO BY JOHN STERLING RUTH