Nicole Garcia is Program Coordinator for the Office of International Programs. She came to the College from an international education foundation in Boston in 2007, becoming OIP’s first Summer Programs Assistant and Coordinator for Harvard Summer School’s faculty-led programs abroad.

Four years of study and work in Latin America and Spain influenced Nicole’s decision to pursue a career in international education. Her introduction to Spanish (and Quechua!) came as a Rotary International Exchange student in Ibarra, Ecuador, as a high school student living with a local host family. Subsequent summers saw Nicole back in Ecuador, and for her junior year of college she studied in both Chile and Spain. With her BA in Spanish and Philosophy from the University of Rochester in hand, she returned to Spain and Ecuador for two years of graduate study and work as an ESL instructor. She earned an MA in Hispanic Linguistics, a Latin American Studies Certificate and TESOL certification from the University of Pittsburgh before moving to Boston.

Nicole, a former coxswain, now goes sailing on the Charles, speaks Spanish and Italian, and goes to Italy whenever she can.