Melissa Giefer Is Always There for International Students

Friday, October 27, 2023
Melissa Giefer

Enrolling international students is one thing, ensuring they have an excellent educational experience is often quite another. Enter Melissa Giefer, international and English as a Second Language (ESL) program coordinator at Viterbo University.

“I like to say that director of international admissions Ken Felts gets them here, and that’s when I step in,” said Giefer, who is a member of the diversity, equity, and inclusion department.

Giefer’s many duties range from teaching ESL and other courses, academic support, cultural and educational acclimation, and sharing practical information about life in the U.S. and La Crosse.

“The people I get to work with and the students we serve are the reasons I’m here doing this,” she said. “International students are a very motivated group. There are many challenges inherent with living and studying outside your home country, and helping them in ways both big and small is very rewarding.”

Giefer began at Viterbo in 2017 as the writing specialist in the Academic Resource Center. She is uniquely qualified for her current post, having earned a bachelor’s degree in English from St. Cloud University and a master’s degree in teaching ESL from Winona State University and having spent two summers teaching ESL at Hebei Foreign Studies University in Shijiazhuang, China.

The university has a total of 49 international students enrolled this fall, including 30 new students who began in August. Six come from Nepal and are in the Master of Mental Health Counseling program. There are four from different parts of Spain, three from Sweden, and three from France. Athletics continues to be a big draw, while other students learn about Viterbo from Felts at international recruiting events or just discover the university online.

Viterbo recently hosted a group of 25 Luxembourg high school students for numerous activities as part of their visit to La Crosse.

“I hope their visit can serve as a blueprint for future exchanges of students and visiting scholars as we build more of an international presence at Viterbo,” Giefer said.