Brigham Young University students who excel in European studies could receive $5,000 to 15,000 to improve their language skills thanks to a recent award from the U.S. Department of Education to BYU for Foreign Language and Area Studies.
The generous FLAS scholarships will provide full tuition and an annual stipend to select undergraduates and graduates who are willing to study approved European languages and deepen their knowledge of Europe.
The grant will benefit about 60 students over the course of four years.
Preference is given to students pursuing what are considered less-commonly taught European languages, such as Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, Turkish or Welsh. Scholarships for German and French are only available for graduate students during the regular academic year, and no funding is available for Spanish.
The Center for the Study of Europe will oversee the application process for European language grants and encourages students to take advantage of this opportunity before the Aug. 23 deadline.
The application process is underway. Students may apply now for the 2010-11 academic year by downloading the application, viewing FAQs, reviewing approved languages and exploring available course listings at flas.byu.edu.
A separate competition will be held in late fall for summer 2011 fellowships.
“Students must demonstrate a capacity to progress not only in language coursework but should also present strong faculty recommendations and present a compelling career plan,” said Cory Leonard, assistant director of the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.
“We are thrilled to see FLAS awards return to BYU, this time including the new undergraduate award,” said Wade Jacoby, CSE director and professor of political science. “These scholarships generously reward students who can craft a compelling plan to develop language skills and area studies knowledge.”
BYU’s language programs already rank among the top in the nation, and the awards available through FLAS will encourage students in many disciplines to increase proficiency, as well as to gain area training.
Six full-tuition academic year scholarships are available for undergraduates, and four will be awarded to graduate students who focus on key European languages.
Students are required to take one language and one area studies class — such as art history, geography, history, humanities or political science — each semester. For many students, one or both of these classes might be part of their regular program requirements. For other students, they may require additional coursework.
Apart from full tuition, the scholarship awards $15,000 to graduates and $5,000 to undergraduates as a year-long stipend.
European FLAS recipients from 2003-2005 who are in key positions in law, business, government, academia and education found the experience to be very important.
“Now that I’m at Oxford, I can see even more clearly how important this award was to give me additional focus and support,” said John Fowles, who received a FLAS grant in 2003 while studying at the J. Reuben Clark School of Law.
For more information, contact BYU’s Center for the Study of Europe at flas@byu.edu.
Writer: Lee Simons
