During Melissa Fisher’s time at VWU, she made an impact on the campus community, not just as a talented student, but as an activist supporting social welfare causes. It is in the intersection of academic and activist work where she formed her undergraduate pathway and subsequent graduate program selection. Her commitment to learning and growth led her to the Global Scholars Program and a semester abroad at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy, and to both the Popular Culture Association’s National Conference and the Virginia Humanities Conference, where she presented an original undergraduate research project.
The English and Women's and Gender Studies double major is currently working toward a Master’s degree in English and Anglo-American Studies at Sapienza Università di Roma, in Rome, Italy.
“You have a remarkable opportunity to take full advantage of these experiences, which, if you choose, can be some of the most exhilarating and important ones you partake in during your brief time at VWU. But the emphasis is on you. You need to have the drive to choose. The drive to act. Help is open to you as soon as you want it, but no one can take those first steps but you.”
An Interview with Melissa Fisher
Why did you want to study away as part of your academic career?
I wanted to study away because I felt it would be a very important learning moment for me. As I already had experience working with nonprofits and political engagement in the US, I wanted the opportunity to continue to participate in social welfare and political action, but through a different lens. In the United States I had the privilege of being an individual from 'inside looking out,' particularly when working with marginalized voting communities and migrant communities that didn't speak English as a first language. However, when I was looking at studying abroad, I knew that that role would be reversed (although only to the extent that a white American woman studying in Europe can be considered an outsider). I wanted the opportunity to continue to learn about and work for the issues that I cared about (women's, LGBTQ+, and racial rights and empowerment, as well as education access), but as someone dealing with the same culture shock and social isolation that comes with second culture immersion. Additionally, I wanted the opportunity to learn about these issues outside of the American-centric system that pervades much of higher education in the States. I hesitate to say that it would have been, or that it was, an empathy building experience (as I believe empathy is innate, not learned), but I do think it helps create a wider perspective to put yourself in the complex flow of migrant experiences. A depth of understanding that ways of life change, and understanding that change is a part of being a modern, global citizen.
Was the experience something you knew you wanted to do before entering college?
While I knew that studying abroad was an experience I wanted before entering college, I didn't think that it was going to be an opportunity for me. I had a very strict graduation timeline and I knew that I wouldn't be able to fund such a trip completely on my own. I'm very grateful for the opportunity I was afforded through the Global Scholar program to be able to pursue my goal.
How did your participation in any of these experiences contribute to your professional success?
My semester abroad prepared me for my professional success by informing my interest in the history of the Italian Futurist movement, passion for popular political demonstration, and introduced me to the students who I now have the privilege of calling my peers in my Master's program. I returned to the United States invigorated to participate with and organize for Planned Parenthood, which eventually led to my paid internship with them the summer after my graduation. I also took the cultural understanding I had developed of the history of the Futurist movement and the drive I had witnessed in the women's rights groups in Rome and fueled my senior thesis with these thoughts in mind. Guided by the English department at VWU, I created a piece of original research that I then presented at two conferences (the Virginia Humanities Conference and the Popular Culture Association’s National Conference) with the funding assistance of the Lighthouse's Undergraduate Research Program. I received awards for the research I conducted and presented both at VWU’s Port Day and at these conferences, which I firmly believe were instrumental in my application and acceptance to my current program.
On a personal level, how has participating in any of these experiences affected your life?
Participating in these experiences gave me the opportunity to become more introspective, and forced me to develop a confidence in myself and my abilities that has served me well in my time abroad and at home. Additionally, both of these experiences drove me to return to Rome, and to continue my studies.