Laurie Melin, was interview by Cadence Carpenter, a pharmacy student at ONU. Cadence is a member of the Honors Program, Astronomy Club, American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), Secular Students Association, and Gaming Club. She plans to pursue a career in geriatric pharmacy.
Alumni from Ohio Northern University spread out across the globe blazing their trails across the continents. One such globetrotter is Laurie Melin, an Assistant Director for the Fulbright Student and Scholar Programs at the Institute of International Education. Laurie oversees the entire western hemisphere for the Fulbright scholarship program promoting academic exchange for students, faculty, and professionals. She spends her time between Puerto Rico and Washington DC, both far from her original home in Ohio. So how did Laurie go from small town Ohio to overseeing Fulbright students and scholars across the western hemisphere?
It all started with Laurie’s family, as many of them went to ONU and lived in Ada until the 1950s. When enrolling at ONU she declared a double major in History and Spanish, later adding a minor in German. Additionally, she was admitted into the honors program where she found many mentors and lifelong friends who expanded her understanding of the world. A variety of majors who lived together and attended class together as a result of the honors program was especially conducive to connecting students who might otherwise never have met. The opportunity to live and learn with students from many disciplines and different parts of the world during freshman year led to Laurie building relationships that impacted the trajectory of her future career. Studying abroad in Chile for six months solidified her interest in working with intercultural programs that bring people together from diverse backgrounds.
After graduation Laurie became an admissions counselor here at ONU, and she continued collaborating with the international office and international student groups on campus as she began traveling to new places to recruit students. She followed the pull of her passions and left Ada to move to Washington DC, where she obtained her master’s in International Training and Education. During her program, she worked as an international student advisor and an intercultural programs manager for three universities, garnering the experience she needed to move on to the next phase of her professional life: directing internationalization activities at a private university in Puerto Rico.
After moving to Puerto Rico, she taught English to adult learners while connecting with international education professionals in San Juan. She worked as the Director of Internationalization at two Puerto Rican universities over the course of 8 years and then stepped into her current job as the Assistant Director for the Western Hemisphere Fulbright Student and Scholar Programs. Today with her team of six, Laurie oversees the implementation of Fulbright grant programs for all students and scholars travelling within the Americas. In this role Laurie can promote diversity, connection, and growth amongst people from very different backgrounds ‒ which leads to the advice she gave for current students.
For all students, Laurie asserts that ONU is the perfect context to branch out and try new things. She emphasizes the importance of giving yourself a chance to do things you aren’t good at (yet) and make mistakes. The environment at ONU is one that gives you a safe space to learn more about yourself, how you think about the world, and who you want to be in the world. She encourages all students to think: what do I want to try while I’m here? How do I want to stretch myself right now? What am I interested in starting that doesn’t exist here yet?
For honors students specifically, Laurie encourages you to purposefully foster relationships with people not from your academic discipline. The more people from different backgrounds who you know on a personal level, the more perspectives you will be exposed to, broadening your awareness of how others see the world. Through these relationships you will gather wisdom and support that will help you progress farther in the goals you develop during your time at ONU.