Hello and welcome to this Boren Awards interest meeting. >> My name is Lisa Chieffo >> I'm the Interim Director of the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Delaware. And I'm going to walk you through, give you some information about the Boren Awards. So what are the Boren words? >> What is this, this thing? >> Well, this is a government funded opportunity to study a lesser-taught language abroad, somewhere other than Western Europe, hopefully for a long period of time, at least a year. And the Boren Awards have been around for a while, since 1991. The award is available to undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in public service, that is government work primarily. >> And as I said to undergraduates, graduate students interested in the long-term study of lesser taught languages. >> So if that fits your profile than you are in the right place. The Boren Scholarships are for undergraduates, while Fellowships are for graduate students to do research. The undergraduate one funds undergraduate students to participate in an existing undergraduate study abroad program. So it's not for research for undergraduates. It's for you to find a study abroad program and Boren basically helps you pay for it. For graduate, >> it's more about independent work abroad. Boren also helps you then pay for that. >> And in both cases, the focus must be on language study. >> But beyond that Boren focuses on national security. So you may have heard of other government-funded opportunities abroad like the Critical Language Scholarship or the Fulbright, etc. >> And these are funded by some aspect of the U.S. State Department. >> Boren is funded by a branch of Defense, and so there's a different interest and different level of commitment for the Boren award and a different focus. >> So in one of the essays in the application for the Boren Award, you have to argue why the language that you want to study, the place you want to go, is of some interest to U.S. national security. >> So that's a different twist on any of the other applications for these types of Awards that I'm aware of. >> And national security, U.S. national security is interpreted very broadly, and we can get into that later on when I talk about the essays, but that's, that's important. >> Okay? >> And so you can think about food security as national security, a national security issue, or water scarcity or things like that can also be interpreted as national security interests and national security issues. >> It's not just all about weapons, for example. >> And so there's lots of guidance on Boren's website about how to interpret that. >> But in any case, you have to make an argument for why is this place, >> why is this language important? >> Why should the U.S. spend $20,000 to get you to this place, to study this language? Why is this an issue to United States? >> Ok, that's number one. >> The second thing that makes Boren different than the Critical Language Scholarship or Fulbright, for example, is the public service aspect. So Boren requires you to actually commit to working a year for the federal government in an internationally focused job, in a position. >> And they will provide you all kinds of assistance in securing some type of position. >> But first thing I have to do in your essays is to argue what you want to do. >> How would you like to work in public service? >> And if you aspire to a career >> in public service in the U.S. government, that's even better because they're really looking for people who want that, want a long-term commitment, but you have to do it for a year or otherwise, you have to pay money back, okay? >> And there's some preference or there's some preferred government agencies. >> And we'll get to at the end. >> They're also outlined on the site, on Boren's site. >> Of course, the Pentagon is a big one, but there are others as well. >> And then the focus on language and culture, which is very common to these type of Awards. So you have to have a serious interest in language study, and that is study in, of lesser taught languages. >> And you need to show that you have an interest in this language even before you go. What are you doing to prepare for the program? What you're going to do abroad is going to, you have to argue how that experience is going to further your language proficiency. So you want to be looking at programs that are really very intensive in their study of language. That are very immersive, right? >> And then when you get back, how are you going to continue? >> So if you said that you're going to go to Africa and you're going to study Wolof, >> how are you going to continue that study of Wolof when you get back to Delaware, where we don't offer that? >> Okay? >> So who is eligible? Well, you must be a U.S. citizen and you must choose to study an eligible language in an eligible area of the world. >> You'll see Boren does not support study in Western Europe, which is the most common region of the world for American students to study abroad. >> So it has to be somewhere other than that. >> And you have to be in a degree program when you're applying for the Boren or applying to graduate school. So this is for people who are students, unlike Fulbright who could be somebody who's already graduated. >> And you see a picture there of our most recent foreign recipient, Rebecca King, who was in Kyrgyzstan for the year, the academic year 2017-18, where she studied. She was a student of Russian at UD, is currently in the spring of 2020, >> and also studied the Kyrgyz language in Kyrgyzstan. >> So what is the level of funding? >> So for the scholarship, you can receive up to $20,000 for a year, $10,000 for semester. There's also a summer program for students in STEM, which I'll talk about. Boren understands that students in particular disciplines will have difficulty being away for a semester or a year, and still graduate within four years. >> And so students in the STEM disciplines can actually have a good argument that they could only study abroad in the summer and Boren will fund that up to $8,000. >> The Fellowships, which are the graduate student awards, have a different level of funding and a different tier of funding. So in your application, you do have to propose a program budget. >> And there are a lot of details about that, that >> I won't go into here. >> But if it's a study abroad program, there's usually a fee attached and then you're adding on things that are not included maybe in that fee, like meals and airfare and things like that. So, add everything up and it's probably going to exceed what Boren will fund. But that's okay. >> You should put down the actual cost of the program. >> So this chart is really quite telling because it shows the, >> the recipients and the amount of time that they're committing to spend abroad on their program. And so you see for the Fellows, the graduate students, over 90% are committing to a year. Not surprising, but for the Scholars, it's three-quarters. 75% of the undergraduate students are committing to a year, which is typically two semesters. And that's very important. I I did serve on a Boren selection panel a couple of years ago. >> So I got a little bit of inside scoop into this. >> And the 21% who are only going to be abroad for a semester, >> many of those are students in ROTC who are often unable to be away for more than a year. So Boren really, you have to have a very good reason for not committing to a full academic year or at least six months. >> Oddly enough, in Boren's world, six months is equal to a year. >> So if you have a semester program, and let's say you've, you've added on some summer study and the whole thing comes up to 6.5 months, you're in the year category, and that's okay for Boren. >> And so you would be among that 75% longer-term. >> The idea is that these languages are tricky to learn and they take a long time and Boren wants this money well-invested, the government's money well-invested, and they want you to return as fluent as possible. >> And that can be done with an intensive program over a long period of time. So that's really the argument. The country preferences, >> you'll see that Western Europe is not one of the areas where you can study abroad. >> A note in the asterisk about blue colored countries, >> you have to have an alternative to studying those places. >> This was accurate for the 2019-20 application round. >> So those countries may change depending on world events, but at least you get a picture of the countries where Boren is really looking to send folks. >> And it's not Western Europe. >> There are many languages that Boren will support, the study of which Boren will support. Note, they are not your typical languages that most students are studying at American universities. >> French, for example, is only valid as a language >> of study in Africa, for example. And many languages are not taught at U.S. universities, or at many U.S. universities. >> So you kind of have to have a really good reason and a very specific reason for wanting to pursue, pursue some of these languages. >> But some may be similar to languages that you're maybe studying. >> If you study Spanish, for example, Romanians and other Latin based language may not be too difficult, but you have to have a good reason for wanting to study it. >> And then have a study abroad program that's going to significantly further your language proficiency. So Boren tries to also provide some study abroad programs that are already sort of set, >> knowing that it's not so easy to find a study abroad program in Africa that offers Twi, for example. >> So they have Flagship language initiatives in various regions of the world, really to promote further study of these languages. >> And little interesting tidbit, there's actually less competition, in some cases, if you apply under the auspices of one of these language initiatives. There's just, there are fewer students applying to them. >> So let's say you're interested in furthering your Portuguese and >> they don't support that, >> they would support that >> in Mozambique, under the African Flagship language initiative. There's a summer domestic program that's included. And then in the fall, Boren actually sends you on a very specific study abroad program in Mozambique. And usually in the spring semester, there's an internship opportunity available. So if the languages in these particular initiatives are of interest to you and fit with your professional or educational goals, >> they're definitely worth investigating because it saves you the trouble of finding a study abroad program and there's less competition. >> So this is the African one, but there are others in other areas of the world. >> For example, the South Asian flagship initiative, >> where you spend part of your summer at University of Wisconsin, Madison. >> and that's to study Hindi and Urdu >> abroad in India. You've got Indonesian, that's a fairly new one. >> Turkish, as well is, a new one as I don't think we've ever had anybody apply to that one and probably not too many of the others either. >> Then there's the STEM initiative that I mentioned before. >> This is not to a particular region, but it's a timing thing. >> So we did have a student received this in summer 2017. >> This will be for students who, again, are in Engineering or STEM fields where being away for a semester would really disrupt their four-year course of study. If you're a student in ROTC, Boren does look kindly upon you, again, because they know that ROTC students really have difficulty being away for a year. >> So those students often will get a dispensation. >> I experienced that in the selection panel. >> In addition, ROTC students, of course, have a commitment to government service. >> That's why they're in the ROTC. So right there, you already have made an argument for that. >> And so Boren does favor, in that respect, ROTC students. Boren like any government initiative, is looking for a very broad and diverse pool of applicants and recipients. >> And they're interested in students in any disciplinary background. >> You don't have to be studying political science, for example, even though you do have to speak to that national security question in your essays. Really, any field of study, any discipline area is fine. Nothing is ruled out. >> The students in environmental science, for example, who can also make a good argument about environmental security being a national security of national security interests, for example. >> So you have to really think creatively based on your area of study. >> And as I mentioned before, you will receive support trying to find that federal job after your studies. I should mention that the federal job requirement does come after you've received your degree. >> So even if you get a bachelor's degree, if you offer a master's, that's fine. >> You can pursue that, continue your education. >> But when you're finally done, you do need, >> you do owe Boren, that year's work. >> NSEP is the division that kind of overseas Boren and that team would help you, >> will provide you, with all the resources needed to help you find that federal job. >> And the hope is that you would pursue a career in the federal government. >> They have forums, workshops, networking, et cetera, and kind of access to different databases, et cetera, to help you find that position. >> I mentioned priority agencies. >> Here >> they are, as you see, Homeland Security, Intelligence, State, Defense, kind of all the big ones that you can imagine that would be, that would be interested in, in hiring somebody who was fluent in these various languages and interested in that national security question. >> These are just priority agencies. That doesn't mean that you can't look for work in other agencies as well. >> The CDC, for example. >> And I think we've all learned in the whole COVID situation, that global pandemic, that is a potential national security issue, right? >> But even Peace Corps, Department of Energy. So again, you really have to think creatively. >> And I did see successful applications come through as I served on that panel from students kind of outside the standard ROTC, Political Science, wanting to be an officer in the military, et cetera, or somebody interested in serving, in being in the Foreign Service and the State Department. >> Those were the two standards. >> But the ones who were not kind of that standard really stood out if they were good applications. >> So it's important to think creatively. >> And there are many, many career resources that one can investigate. >> The important thing is that when you're writing in your essays about what your, what, to which kind of career you would aspire in the federal government that you're fairly specific. And that doesn't mean that your whole career has to be planned out for you, but you do have to show that you've done some research. So if you want to say, I want to work for CIA, well, what does that mean? Be kind of specific. Or in the federal, in the Foreign Service, there are many kinds of foreign service jobs. Well, >> what job do you plan to get where you're going to need to speak Hindi? >> Can you be more specific about that? >> It shows that you've done your research. In the end, you don't have to do that job. >> Nobody's gonna find out, >> oh, well, she said she was going to do this and check. She decided to do that. That's okay. >> But it shows you've, you've taken the time to investigate various possible careers and show that you've kind of prepared yourself. >> And this, this aspect of, or the study of, language and the experience in the Boren will help you, will help prepare you for that career. >> So I've been referring to some essays and that's one of the requirements for the application, are the essays. Also letters of recommendation, presumably for study abroad from faculty, study abroad faculty directors if you've been on a study abroad program, faculty who have maybe directed research that you've participated in or if you've been a TA. >> So think about what those faculty recommenders could say about you. >> That's very important, as in how adaptive you are, flexible, because you're probably going to be studying in a very unfamiliar environment. >> Your commitment to language study, your commitment and interest in federal work and service. >> So the essays, this is really the core of your application where you're making that national security argument, right? >> I'm going to study Arabic and I'm going to do it in, in Jordan because... That might be kind of an easy one. >> That area, region of the world might be an easy argument to make. >> But when you're thinking about, say, Japan, why is that a national security argument? Our successful STEM student, who was an engineer argued about, about the security of, of nuclear plants and really studying what happened in the, at the Fukushima plant in 2011, I believe that was. >> And so he made a successful argument in saying that, you know, he's interest was working in Japan and working with Japanese companies as a, he was >> some sort of engineer I believe, an environmental engineer, I believe, looking at the environmental implications. >> So he kind of made that connection and that's important. >> What is that connection to national security? And then again to the Foreign Service. >> How do you want to, to, to give back? What are your career aspirations in the federal government? >> And then so that's the first essay. >> And kind of how does this, how does that fit? >> How does your, how do your studies and your preparation lead you that. In the second essay, you're really looking at the program and explaining this program and how the program that you've chosen is going to help further your language proficiency. That's really important. >> Ideally, the courses should all be taught in the target language. >> If they're not, then you can address other areas or aspects of the program that'll help you interact with native speakers and further your language proficiency. >> Are you living in a homestay? Are you living in a residence hall with local students? Are your classes all with local students? Or is there a language pledge? What kind of things can you write that's going to assure Boren that you're going to come out, $20,000 later, fairly fluent in that language? That's really crucial. And then the language maintenance plan. So if you're setting a language that's not taught at the University of Delaware, >> when you return, >> How are you going to continue? >> Have you investigated other native speakers here in Newark or in your home, where there are people that you've already connected with so that you can continue that language study? >> So how competitive is all this? >> Well, it's kind of competitive, but a lot depends. >> So I mentioned those language Flagship Initiatives tend to be less competitive. >> But of course, you can't make it fit, right? It has to be something that you're interested in and want to pursue. So it's kind of a little bit misleading, but these are the overall statistics for the undergraduate awards. It's about a 30% award rate across the board. >> Again, might be less competitive with some initiatives or some languages than others. And it's a little bit less competitive than with the Fellowships, the graduate applications. >> So Boren does have a national deadline. >> It tends to be around the end of January, early February every year. It shifts a little bit every year. >> UD has its own internal deadline of January 15th for both. >> And that gives us a couple of weeks time to get a little committee together to interview you, give you some feedback, and maybe allow you to change and resubmit your essays before the national deadline. >> I do highly encourage you to have people read and reread your essays over the course of the fall semester and give you feedback. >> And I would be happy to do that as well. >> And there's my contact information. I'm Lisa Chieffo. I'd be very glad to give you feedback on essays, to talk to you more about your, if you have questions about the Boren Award, what you might like to study, where and why. >> And also Rebecca King, who in the spring of 2020 will be graduating. >> But she has agreed to respond to any UD student who's interested in hearing about her experience and her applications and what she did to get that year in Kyrgyzstan. So I look forward to getting your applications and thank you very much for your attention.

Boren Award Information Session

From Kaitlyn Laws May 07, 2020

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An initiative of the National Security Education Program, the Boren Awards allow U.S. undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to study less commonly taught languages critical to national interests. Awards of up to $30,000 are available for one year of study. In exchange for funding, Boren Scholars and Fellows commit to working in the federal government for at least one year after graduation. Learn more during this UD Information Session.

Department Name: Institute for Global Studies
Department Division: Marketing
Date Established: May 07, 2020
Appears In: Institute for Global Studies

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