Katherine Fleming, provost of NYU, is living proof of the merits of international exchange. She’s one of the leaders of the academic world in the United States, and her humor, which is as sharp as her intelligence, defies all stereotypes about academia. She feels equally at home in Greece and in France, and she has supported many of the French Embassy’s initiatives to encourage exchange between American and French universities. We spoke about the big payoffs that studying abroad can have, despite the risks; about how being a waitress in Greece had a direct influence on her professional trajectory; the cost of tuition in American and France; and her childhood experience on a farm in France.