FIVE WITH A FALCON: Nicole Salerno & Study Abroad at Fitchburg State University

In this episode of FIVE WITH A FALCON, Gabriel Rivera (HIST '26) interviews Nicole Salerno. Nicole is the Assistant Director of Study Abroad in the International Education office at Fitchburg State and is passionate about helping students discover new academic opportunities abroad.  Join us and listen to what Nicole has to say about her sense of belonging at Fitchburg State!

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Episode transcript can be found here.

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Episode produced, edited, and mixed by Gabriel Rivera (HIST '26) for the Spring 2025 Podcasting course (COMM 2015).

Click here to learn more about Perseverantia. Join us for programming updates on Instagram. Or reach out with ideas or suggestions at podcasts@fitchburgstate.edu.

Transcript

[Five With a Falcon theme fades in]

Gabriel Rivera: Hello, everyone. We have Nicole Salerno here at FSU. Welcome to Five With a Falcon, Nicole! How about you go ahead and introduce yourself today?

Nicole Salerno:  Thank you, Gabriel. Hi everyone, my name is Nicole Salerno. I'm the Assistant Director of Study Abroad here at Fitchburg State, and I'm happy to be here.

[Five With a Falcon theme fades out]

Gabriel: Thank you, Nicole. It's a pleasure to have you here. Now, how about you tell us about your career at FSU during your time here? 

Nicole:  Sure. So, I started at Fitchburg State about seven years ago. I actually started as the Study Abroad Coordinator about two years ago. I was promoted to Assistant Director of Study Abroad, which is very exciting. But yeah, in my time here, I've been working on faculty-led programs, these short-term programs where students go abroad as part of their class. I've been able to work with a lot of faculty, a lot of different people on campus, who are interested in taking students abroad, which has been really interesting. And then folks like yourself who wanna go study abroad for a longer period of time, for a semester. So, it's been great. It's been a really exciting journey to watch and learn so many things about studying abroad, about international experiences. 

We've had a lot of students on international internships, service learning programs. So yeah, that's basically what I've been doing here at Fitchburg State. This International Office works with both students going abroad but also international students coming in as well. So I've had the opportunity to work alongside my colleagues, Nellie Wadsworth, Sandy Yu, and Ari Robuchon, to help students from all over the world come here to Fitchburg State. So while I'm not somebody who is an immigration DSO, I do help organize a lot of the international students, which is fun too. 

Gabriel:  Yeah, I know, Nicole. You've had a lot of exposure with fellow staff and students for all these years. That kind of goes into the next question we have here. Do you have any kind of belonging or a place where you feel like you belong the most at FSU?

Nicole:  Absolutely! I would say here in the International Office. There’s always people coming and going who are interested in traveling, who are interested in other cultures, which I very much am, and who are interested in other languages. So, definitely here in the International Office, we host a lot of events too, cultural events. We have International Night, where students can come and perform different dances and music. We have the 

Nicole:  Study Abroad Fair, which is just next week as well. So yeah, there are definitely a lot of places that I feel that I belong. And also, just here on the third floor of Hammond, it's a very student-centered floor. So I'm right next to the Academic Coaching and Tutoring Center. I'm next to the Career Center, TRIO, and Disability Services Counseling. So I feel very much that I belong here and love seeing students in the hallway, walking to the bathroom, or walking to another office. I really like overhearing conversations and seeing students. So yeah, I definitely find a sense of belonging within this space, I would say.

Gabriel:  Looking outside of this space, what would you say is your fondest memory of being able to go abroad in any shape or form?

Nicole:  Well, the whole reason I am here in this position is because I myself studied abroad like you for a semester. So I studied abroad in Lima, Peru when I was a junior in college and absolutely loved my experience, which is why I pursued a career in International Education. I actually taught English in Chile for two years after I came back from Peru because I wasn't ready to leave South America yet. So yeah, I would say probably that time would be the best and most influential experience I've had abroad. However, in the past, let's say… five years, I've had the opportunity to travel on some of these faculty-led programs. So I've gone to Japan with the Game Design program. I've gone to Ireland with our Peace Studies program with Professor Budd, Germany and Poland on the Heart of Europe program.

So I've had a lot of significant international experiences in the past, even five years here at Fitchburg State with our students, which is very special to watch them go through that and prepare them, but watch them go through it and see them back here on campus and see how changed they are. And personally, for me, those are places of the world I've really had not been to. So I can advise better now on those programs. So, a lot of great international experiences. 

Gabriel:  Yeah, and I can give some feedback about my personal experience, too, where you went so far as to help my mom and I go down to Boston and get our documents all sorted out for my student visa. I'm never really gonna forget that. So for all listeners here, Nicole will go the extra mile for helping out students. 

Nicole:  Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to go to Boston with you and your mom. We had a great day! But yeah, being familiar with our consulates is very important.

It's a very important part of this job because if you are studying abroad for a longer period of time, like you did, you do need to be familiar with people at the consulate. So, it was a really nice opportunity for me to see the Spanish consulate. We work often with the Italian consulate in Boston and with the Japanese consulate through our exchange programs. So it was a pleasure to go and very nice to go, but it also helps this office in a way. 

Gabriel:  Thank you, Nicole. Again, I totally agree with that. If there was one thing or a couple of things more to end off today that you would like to tell students about study abroad, what do you think you'd say? 

Nicole:  I would let students know that studying abroad is going to be probably the best part of your undergraduate experience or one of the best parts of your undergraduate experience. When I studied abroad, it really felt like - and I know people have probably heard me say this before - like I was napping, and then I woke up. And I really do feel and see that in our students too, when they come back from study abroad, whether it's a short-term program, whether it's a semester. Some students go for an academic year through our exchange programs.

And we have scholarships. So we have a lot of these amazing opportunities, like the Global Ambassador Scholarship. We have the Center for Italian Culture Scholarship, which helps fund our students to go abroad. We work very closely with financial aid, we work closely with academic advisors. As you remember from your time abroad, we went through each course and really made sure how it’s gonna transfer back to keep you on track for graduation. So we do a lot of that here. But it's the whole community of Fitchburg State that is trying to get you abroad because it benefits everyone when you go abroad and you bring back your experiences to Fitchburg, different lessons you've learned, and different experiences you've had. Then, of course, our international students. Please make friends with our international students; they're here only for a short period of time in a lot of cases. Just be open and come to our events and try and talk with them, and remember what it was like for you to be studying abroad. That's how it's like for them here. 

[Five With a Falcon theme fades in]

Gabriel:  Well, I don't think I could have summed it up in any better way, Nicole. So I have to thank you again for coming on today to Five With a Falcon, and thank you for your time. 

Nicole:  Thank you so much, Gabriel, and I can't wait to see you back in Spain.

[Five With a Falcon theme fades out]

[Perseverantia theme fades in]

Gabriel: This is Gabriel Rivera, a senior at Fitchburg State, and you’re listening to Perseverantia, the Fitchburg State Podcast Network.

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