Athens, Ga. – Three University of Georgia students will travel to Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East this summer to study languages considered critical to U.S. interests as recipients of the U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship.
The participants will join about 550 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students who will spend seven to 10 weeks in intensive language institutes across the globe.
The University of Georgia’s Critical Language Scholars are:
• Tucker Boyce, a second-year student from Alpharetta studying economics in the Terry College of Business and minoring in French in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, who will travel to Ankara, Turkey, to study Turkish.
• Alice Naghshineh, a senior Honors student from Marietta majoring in economics in the Terry College and mathematics and Arabic in the Franklin College, who will travel to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to study Persian.
• Kathleen Wilson, a third-year Honors Program Foundation Fellow and recently named Truman Scholar from Beaumont, Texas, studying economics in the Terry College and international affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs, who will travel to Ibri, Oman, to study Arabic.
“I see UGA’s commitment to international engagement reflected in our students’ passion for language learning and eagerness to connect with the world,” said Elizabeth Hughes Sears, a student affairs professional in the Honors Program and Boren Awards campus representative. “It is an honor to work with such talented scholars in an environment that so strongly supports their success.”
The Critical Language Scholarship is part of a U.S. government effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages, including Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and Urdu. The program provides fully funded, group-based intensive language instruction and structured enrichment experiences in 13 countries.
CLS Program participants are among the more than 50,000 academic and professional exchange program participants supported annually by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to promote mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The CLS Program is administered by American Councils for International Education.