Nona Fisher ’88: An Alumna, Former Employee, Volunteer, ‘Host Mom’ & More

When Nona Fisher ’88 visits Methodist University, it is easy to spot the joy she brings to faculty, staff, alumni, and current students – something that has come naturally to her since stepping foot onto campus in the mid-1980s.

Fisher transferred to then-Methodist College to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Accounting with a minor in Economics and speaks glowingly about her entire experience as a student.

“I absolutely loved it here,” Fisher said. “From the moment I got here, I just loved it. The professors were amazing. It led me to becoming proactive on campus.”

After graduation, Fisher earned her first full-time job: Director of Human Resources at Methodist College. She also immediately joined the school’s Alumni Board, where she later served two terms as president.

Although Fisher left her HR position in 1998 to become a managing partner of her own accounting firm, she has remained loyal to her alma mater – serving on both the Foundation Board (which has since merged with the Board of Visitors to become the Founders Council) and the Alumni Board’s Homecoming Committee through the years.

In 2003, Fisher received the Outstanding Alumni Service Award and continues to be one of the most (if not the most) active volunteers for the Alumni Board more than 20 years later. Fisher even, typically, mentors one MU student per semester at her accounting firm, teaching them the ins and the outs of the business.

With all of the different ways Fisher has used her time to walk alongside Methodist University, she would tell you one of her biggest passion projects is providing a helping hand to MU’s international students. She gives international students rides to and from the Fayetteville Regional Airport at the beginning and end of each semester. She then takes it a step further by becoming those students’ unofficial “host mom” – checking in on the students throughout the semester and occasionally making campus visits to provide them with hugs.

“It’s important because my grandfather came from Italy to Ellis Island when he was just eight and had to make it by himself,” she said. “For these international students, many of them don’t have someone here that can just give them a hug, so I’m always here to give them that love. It’s very important.”

For Fisher, loyalty through time is a key aspect of her life as a Methodist University alumna.