Jonathan Mascaut, coordinator for International Student Services at St. Bonaventure University, sees roughly 12 to 30 students in his office every day. When people pass by Mascaut’s office, they often overhear a variety of different accents as he interacts with students and talks with his co-workers.
“Working in international education has been a passion from the start of my career,” he said.
Mascaut, born and raised in Normandy, France, earned his bachelor’s degree in English and American literature and social studies while studying in France.During his senior year of college, Mascaut studied abroad at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. After spending a year there, he got married and lived with his wife in Portland, Oregon for the next 20 years.
While in Portland, Mascaut worked at a French international school. He managed their extracurricular programs.
Mascaut and his wife were contemplating moving to the east coast before the COVID-19 pandemic started. When the pandemic arrived, they took that as a sign to get going.
“We packed up our car, took our two dogs and drove cross-country in the middle of the summer of 2020. That was a very interesting four days,” Mascot said about the move.
While he was able to keep working remotely throughout the process, Bonaventure posted an opening for a new Coordinator of International Student Services.
A typical day in the life for Mascaut at his job involves a mix of various projects. He meets with current international students to address their needs. He works with U.S. students on identifying and applying to a study abroad program that fits their specific needs.
Mascaut communicates with prospective international students who plan on attending the following semester, collaborates with various partners on different programs or events and spends time re-organizing and developing the office and its services. Sometimes, he shares a moment with students who want to practice their French.
Mascaut said he enjoys his job. He is thankful to be surrounded daily by students and colleagues from different countries with diverse cultures and languages who bring different ideas and different ways of doing things.
“I get to witness daily how these interactions improve and expand our community’s diversity and understanding of each other,” Mascot said.
However, Mascaut said that sometimes his job can get stressful. Juggling the needs of current international students, incoming new international students and American students going abroad can sometimes be a bit difficult. But being busy keeps it fun, he said.
Mascaut’s plans to keep working through the summer. He will be taking care of the international students who graduate this semester and are going to stay for a year of work post-graduation. Additionally, he will be working with the incoming class of international students, working on orientation and welcome days, and streamlining the office’s procedures to advocate for a more inclusive response to the students’ specific needs.
Along with that he will try to explore more of the Southern Tier region and try to take a road trip up to Quebec.
