Boren Graduate Fellowships for American Students 2014
Boren Graduate Fellowships for American Students 2014
Overview
The Boren Fellowship is the graduate portion of the Boren Awards for International Study. It was established by the National Security Education Act of 1991 in honor of Senator David L. Boren of Oklahoma to increase the number of students in languages, fields of study and world regions critical to U.S. security. The Boren graduate fellowships, administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE), are designed to encourage graduate studentsto pursue specialization in area and language study or to add an important international dimension to their education that may be deemed critical to U.S. national security. (There is no Stanford campus process for this award.)
The Award
Boren Fellowships provide up to $24,000 for a maximum of 24 months. Because the Boren promotes long-term linguistic and cultural immersion, preference is given to application for programs of 6 months or longer. However, an exception to this preference will be shown to students in STEM fields who are encouraged to apply for 3-6 month programs.
Areas given preference by the Boren for language and regional study are Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. Preference is also shown to applicants studying in certain fields critical to U.S. national security (e.g. Business, Computer Science. Foreign Languages, Law, IR, History, Science and Engineering, Mathematics, Political Science and Policy Studies, Social Sciences.)
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for Boren Graduate International Fellowship, an individual must be:
- U.S. citizen and willing to enter into a service agreement (if awarded a fellowship)
- Matriculated in a graduate degree program at an accredited institution of higher education, or a student currently enrolled, either part-time or full-time, in a degree program who is in the process of applying to a graduate program.
African Languages Initiative (AFLI)
The AFLI offers the opportunity for applicants to enhance their Boren Fellowship with additional African language study in the United States and overseas. Although domestic funding is not available as part of the Boren Fellowship, supplemental funding is available for students participating in the AFLI initiative at the University of Florida, Gainsville during the summer 2014.
It is for instruction in the following languages: Akan/Twi, Hausa, Portuguese, Swahili, Wolof, Yoruba, Zulu, . Those planning on studying Swahili, Yoruba and Zulu in Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa respectively can enroll for the summer language instruction at U. of Florida, which will require a separate application. Akan/Twi, Hausa and Wolof have no corresponding overseas programs.
French is now offereed as AFLI language for those at the intermediate hight level or avove interested in studying in Senegal.
The Application
Fellowship applicants design their own programs and may combine domestic language and cultural study with study overseas. Boren strongly encourages substantive overseas study in every case.
All fellowships must include study of a language (and corresponding area and culture) other than English. Areas of study may be comparative (within or across regions), but must have a common language core.
You will need to submit the following directly on the Boren online application system. (There is no Stanford campus process for this award):
- Online application
- Detailed budget
- Transcripts
- 3 references
- Letter of overseas affiliation
- Optional online language proficiency form
As a condition of receiving a Boren graduate fellowship, all fellowship recipients must agree to “enter into a Service Agreement to work in a national security position or work in the field of higher education in the area of study for which the fellowship was awarded.” The duration of the service agreement will be equal to the time period for which Boren NSEP support was provided, with no less than one year.
Fellowships will not be awarded for study of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.
Factors In Selection
- Demonstrated academic excellence
- A comprehensive, clear, concise, and feasible proposal for study
- A plan to develop or reinforce language competence
- Leadership potential; community involvement
- Evidence of ability to adapt to a different cultural environment
- Integration of proposed program into academic and long-range goals
Boren will give some preference to applications which include:
- Important global economic, political, and social issues affecting U.S. national security
- Languages that are less frequently studied in the U.S.
- Fields of study other than those that are most commonly the focus of international education.
In the proposal, applicants must address the issue of the significance and critical importance of their selected area or country, language, and culture to their academic field of study, professional development, and the nation’s global security.
National Deadline: January 28, 2014