Andrea Nutter began working at JMU in the Early, Elementary, and Reading Education Department in 2023 and joined the Center for Global Engagement in January of 2024. She is delighted to be a part of the CGE’s mission and believes there is nothing like traveling to a new place, tasting the local cuisine, participating in festivals and rituals unique to that one specific part of the world, and laughing with someone who doesn’t speak the same language.
Andrea has a Bachelor of Science in International Business and a minor in Japanese Studies from the College of Charleston and spent a year studying at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as part of a National Student Exchange. After graduation, she moved to a remote village in Japan, where she taught English for three years through the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. Upon returning to the United States, she worked at Nissan Trading Corporation as an International Trade Representative for the Middle East accounts. She has worked with people from all over the world, including Brazil, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates, and cherishes the knowledge and friendships gained through these relationships and experiences.
As she began to start a family, she ventured down a different career path, pursuing another passion, dance. She taught ballet for fourteen years and served as the Office Manager, Ballet Director, Financial Reporting Manager, and the Assistant Director at Smartt Steps Dance Studio, where she had the pleasure of working alongside her two sisters. She is the proud founder of the Ashley Smartt Scholarship and Memorial Fund, which provides dancers the means to pay for tuition, costume costs, summer intensive workshops and conventions, college dance programs, and hopefully one day, studies abroad.
In her free time, Andrea can be found dancing, singing karaoke (very poorly), knitting (also very poorly), kayaking or paddle boarding at Smith Mountain Lake, and attending JMU sporting events with her husband Steve and two kids, Maks and Ashley Evalyn. She has lived in Tennessee, South Carolina, Oregon, Hawaii, and Japan and moved to Virginia in 2021. She and her family have enjoyed exploring Harrisonburg and the charming, small towns scattered throughout Virginia and love the excitement and diversity that JMU brings to the community!