Nicole Hamon Retires
After Years of
Sending Students Abroad

Nicole Hamon was watching television at home the morning of May 12 when the news broke that China had been rocked by a devastating earthquake.
"In a matter of seconds I told myself, Good, I don't have any students in China,'" Hamon recalls. "And actually this is unusual for CMC. This is a semester when we don't have any students in China."
Hamon will soon be able to track world events without focusing on CMC involvement: At the end of June, she retires after 18 years as Director of the Office of Off-Campus Study.
Hamon came to the United States from her native France with a scholarship to work as a language assistant at Grinnell College in Iowa. There she met her future husband, completed a bachelor's degree, and worked for eight years as a foreign student adviser. She then joined CMC, and since her arrival in 1990, the percentage of graduating students participating in Off-Campus Study (including the Washington Program and semesters abroad) has risen from about one-third to more than half.
"Study abroad has changed dramatically since Nicole started working with it," says colleague Barbara Nanning. "She has kept up with this very demanding aspect of the job. Her vast knowledge of programs and the nuances of each location have allowed students to make informed decisions on a myriad of opportunities and to choose the right location for their personal growth.
"She insists that the students attend high-quality programs that will enhance the college experience," Nanning says. "She will even advise against study abroad if she feels that it would be detrimental to that student's well-being or college career."
Assistant Director of Off-Campus Study Kristen Mallory, who calls Hamon a "woman of achievement," says Hamon is good at guiding the smartest students "into the realization that there is more to life than what is on a transcript, including personal integrity and worldview achievements.
"She is a stern mother, a mentor, a teacher, a disciplinarian and a nurturer to every student she meets," Mallory says. "The most important thing I have learned in her presence is to remember, daily, that it is the students who matter, and their global and personal education is what is important."
With an invigorated study abroad program, there's been less pounding of the pavement to convince students of their global opportunities. "We don't have to schedule visits to freshman seminars, we don't have visits to the dorms by an army of returning students to convince the troops," Hamon says. "Not only are the students eager, some can't wait for their junior year. We also have very strong support from parents and faculty."
Hamon also cites unwavering support for Off-Campus Study from President Pamela Gann, who changed the financial aid policy for study abroad, encouraged internationalism on campus, and never misses an opportunity to support the program in her speeches. Hamon is particularly proud of a surge in student interest in the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Africaplaces where "we had so few viable study options when I began working for CMC." Now, she says, the College can send every major abroad.
She also notes that, in part because of currency exchange rates, this fall will mark the first time that Europe is not the destination for the majority of CMC's study-abroad contingent.
"One of the questions that I hear a lot is, Where can they go?' And the question is no longer appropriate. It's, Where can they not go?' Within some constraints, of course, now the world is out there for them. The students we graduate today will have not only multiple careers, but borderless careers.
"In terms of what we've done in the office, I certainly would not want to take credit for all of these good things, but I would be willing to say that we have tried to expand the offerings, to make them more global, and encourage more students to push the envelope, if you will, and leave their comfort zones."
Unfortunately, Hamon's reason for retiring is not a cheery one. She is a cancer survivor, and has had a recurrence, the treatment for which forces her to deal with constantly fluctuating medications that can induce as much as 11 hours of sleep a daywhich isn't an option for a director responsible for a portfolio of 100 programs in 40 countries.
Mallory says despite these personal challenges, "Nicole comes to the office with an energy for students that takes precedent over reports, paperwork, or meetings that demand her time."
"I'm very thankful to have had this opportunity, because this is one of the best jobs on campus," Hamon reflects. "And it is such because of the students we get to work with, and knowing that you played a very small part in making these life-changing experiences happen. It's very rewarding, but it's also very demanding.
"So I'm like the students we graduate, who don't know what's going to happen yet. I want to believe I've joined the Class of 2008 and now I have new horizons to discover."
And, for the first time in two decades, when the morning newspaper arrives on her porch, Hamon can ignore the reports of international hot-spots and reach first for the Calendar.
"This is going to be new to me," she says. "I don't have great plans, but my plan is to see what life has to offer me."