The NENON WAY

In 2003, my department sent me to Germany to meet people involved in our exchange program at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. One Memphian who went with me was Associate Vice Provost Tom Nenon, whom I’d never met before, but whose role in the program was instrumental: he had signed the original agreement. We couldn’t check into our hotel when we arrived that morning, so we got a little nourishment at a nearby sausage stand. Within minutes, one person after another kept walking by, greeting my new friend, and saying, “Tom! Good to see you!” How many people know this guy, I wondered. Is he a celebrity?

Tom’s influence was and is legendary. He’s been a major reason that international programs are as strong at the University of Memphis as they are. David Arant, chair of the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media, credits Tom’s “enthusiastic leadership” for the success of the Mainz program and the warm and lasting international relationships that have resulted from it.

I met Tom’s wife, Dr. Monika Nenon, soon after the 2003 trip. Because I was going to be overseeing the exchange program, I decided to take German classes again. I’d minored in it in college, though it had been twenty years since then and I was rusty. Monika was my second teacher at the University of Memphis, and she proved to be an outstanding professor—conscientious, dedicated, fun, and motivating. Within a few years, we were both on a committee to approve faculty-led study-abroad programs.

“Tom and Monika have left an indelible legacy of study abroad at the University of Memphis, a vibrant culture of learning and exploration, friendship, and discovery.”

- Joe Hayden

Her involvement in international outreach goes back much further, though. In 1994, she launched the partnership with Catholic University in Eichstätt, a school set in a small town in Bavaria. In all, she brought University of Memphis students there 14 times, and one of the consistent highlights was the extracurricular activities. “That was always a lot of fun to see the students participate in international group dances or play skits in German,” she recalled. In the last thirty years, some 150 Memphis students have made the trip. I joined a group myself in 2005, one of the most rewarding educational experiences I’ve ever had.

Study abroad had that effect on Tom Nenon, too. “It changed my life completely,” the native Memphian says. Germany is where he received his PhD in philosophy, and it’s where he met Monika. Tom acknowledges the impact studying abroad has on University of Memphis students today, giving them the “opportunity to meet and engage with people from different countries and cultures” and “opening new worlds” to them. In addition to launching the Mainz-Memphis exchange, Tom also led UofM’s Philosophy Department in the Erasmus Mundus program, and for a time served as Director of International Programs. More recently, he was involved in recruitment efforts in India.

Through Monika’s role on the study-abroad program committee, she has likely reviewed and approved more than a dozen proposed excursions a year, which means that she’s partially responsible for hundreds of University of Memphis students travelling outside the U.S., some of them for the first time. She has certainly “opened worlds” for these young people. According to her colleague, Dr. Heike Polster, Monika’s leadership in these programs has been marked by “joy and enthusiasm".

She built relationships with partner universities that will continue to enrich many students' lives. We all appreciate her hard work and dedicated commitment to creating these wonderful learning opportunities for our students."

One of those students was so grateful to her that years later as an alum he provided scholarship money for others to travel.

That’s something that both Nenons have generously supported as well. They created the Monika and Tom Nenon Scholarship to fund Memphis-area students studying abroad in non-English-speaking destinations. Rebecca Laumann, the executive director for the Center for International Education Services, calls the Nenons’ commitment to international education “unparalleled as they have established key partnerships, led strategic international initiatives, hosted visitors from around the world, and advised countless students to study abroad. The Nenons have influenced generations of students through their work at the UofM.”

In 2023, twenty years after my first trip with Tom to Mainz, we did it again to commemorate the exchange program — and to see old friends and new. This time, we took our spouses, which means I got to see both Nenons in action — an international power couple if ever there were one. Tom and Monika have left an indelible legacy of study abroad at the University of Memphis, a vibrant culture of learning and exploration, friendship, and discovery. This achievement was made possible by two people who show that true education knows no boundaries.