{"id":1291,"date":"2021-08-26T14:55:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T19:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-study-away\/?post_type=profile&p=1291"},"modified":"2024-07-30T15:56:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T20:56:53","slug":"1291","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/about\/staff\/1291\/","title":{"rendered":"Alainna Swenson"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was excited to return to my Minnesota roots when I accepted the position of Study Away Data & Finance Specialist at Macalester, and am enjoying the increased responsibility that comes with being the Assistant Director of Finance and Operations. In my role, not only do I advise students on a number of study away programs and scholarships, but I also facilitate the behind-the-scenes financial administration of the department. I enjoy working with students, staff, and faculty who have a passion for expanding their personal or professional education internationally. I believe that experiential learning opportunities are crucial components of a holistic education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am originally from Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and enjoyed living in this incredibly diverse area. My studies took me to Central College in Pella, Iowa, where I received my Bachelor\u2019s degree in French, International Studies and Psychology (minor). While there I lived in the French House for four semesters with the language assistants, as well as studied abroad for a semester in Paris, focusing on language and culture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After college, I returned to France to teach English to high school students in the Champagne region for an academic year. I then came back to the U.S., moving to Columbus, Ohio for a year and then to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for eight years. In that time I completed my Master of Science degree in Student Personnel Administration from Concordia University-Wisconsin and worked in the Center for International Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as their Study Abroad Enrollment Specialist, Financial Specialist and Coordinator of Short-Term Faculty-Led Programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my spare time, I enjoy exercising, reading, baking, and traveling with my best friend on surprise vacations. I have interests in numismatics (domestic and foreign currency collecting), as well as classic video games, card games, and 90\u2019s nostalgia. I am also the Vice Chair of National Study Abroad Day and am pleased to coordinate and bring attention to this wonderful “holiday.”<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":1331,"template":"","class_list":["post-1291","profile","type-profile","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3479,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1291\/revisions\/3479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/study-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}