Boren Awards provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to study in Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East, where they can add important international and language components to their educations.
Boren Award amounts are based on the length of time the Boren Scholar or Fellow spends overseas and the cost of the program. Boren Scholarships can provide undergraduate students with up to $20,000, and Boren Fellowships can provide graduate students with up to $30,000.
Boren Scholars and Fellows represent a variety of academic backgrounds, but all are interested in studying less commonly taught languages, including but not limited to Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Swahili. As part of the African Languages Initiative, Boren Award applicants have the opportunity to further their study of Akan/Twi, Hausa, Portuguese, Swahili, Wolof, Yoruba, or Zulu. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are funded by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), which focuses on geographic areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security. Applicants should identify how their projects, as well as their future academic and career goals, will contribute to U.S. national security, broadly defined. NSEP draws on a broad definition of national security, recognizing that the scope of national security has expanded to include not only the traditional concerns of protecting and promoting American well-being, but also the challenges of global society, including sustainable development, environmental degradation, global disease and hunger, population growth and migration, and economic competitiveness.
In most cases, study of Spanish or French is only permissible if the applicant is at an advanced level of competency, and students should focus on achieving further language proficiency through academic coursework in Spanish or French. However, students at the intermediate level of Spanish or French in the disciplines of the sciences, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) are also eligible. The Boren Scholarships for undergraduates has a special STEM initiative of $8,000 for a 8 week minimum summer program for STEM students only.
For a complete list of languages:
Boren Scholarships (undergraduate)
Eligibility: http://www.borenawards.org/eligibility.html
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