Four UA Students Win Critical Languages Scholarship Award
- April 14th, 2020
- in Education Abroad International Main
Four UA students were selected as recipients of the Critical Languages Scholarship Award to participate in overseas language study during the summer of 2020. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, CLS has unfortunately suspended all summer language institutes for 2020. Despite this disappointing news, we wish to congratulate our winners, who will be eligible to reapply for the award for the 2021 application cycle.
David Ewing, a finance major, was selected to study Chinese in Tainan, Taiwan.
Elena Guerra, a Romance Languages and Spanish double-major, was selected to study Russian.
Katie Lightfoot, a German major, was selected to study Turkish at Ankara University TOMER in Bursa, Turkey.
Bria Samuels, a German MA student, was selected to study Turkish at Ankara University TOMER in Bursa, Turkey.
The Critical Language Scholarship program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. CLS scholars gain critical language and cultural skills that enable them to contribute to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.
The program provides scholarships to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to spend eight to 10 weeks overseas studying one of 14 critical languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish or Urdu.
The program includes intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains. CLS scholars are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their critical language skills in their future careers.
Students interested in Critical Language Scholarships, Boren Scholarships or Fulbright Awards may contact the Capstone International Center at cic@ua.edu for more information.