CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Three University of Illinois students have each been awarded a Boren Scholarship and will be spending the 2014-2015 academic year studying a foreign language abroad.
Boren awards, part of the National Security Education Program, provide funds for exceptional undergraduate and graduate students to study nontraditional languages around the world. Boren scholars pledge to seek employment with the Department of State, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security or the intelligence community after graduation.
Junior Kevin Dinh, of Brookfield, Illinois, has earned a $20,000 Boren Scholarship to study Vietnamese for two semesters in Vietnam. Dinh is majoring in chemistry at Illinois and plans to work for the government in environmental policy development, remediation and enforcement. In spring 2015 he will study in Da Nang and in fall 2015 he will be in Ho Chi Minh City. While in Vietnam he also will participate in an internship addressing the legacy of Agent Orange. Following his time in Vietnam, Dinh plans to pursue graduate training in environmental or biological engineering before beginning work with the U.S. Agency for International Development or the Environmental Protection Agency.
Morgan Hollie, of Chicago, a junior in Global Studies, is the recipient of a $10,000 Boren Scholarship to study Wolof in Senegal in fall 2014. Hollie already has a high level of competency in French and has studied Wolof for two years. Before her departure for Senegal, Hollie will study Wolof through the African Languages Initiative program at the University of Florida this summer. While in Senegal, Hollie plans to collect data for her senior thesis on democratization and the reduction of violent conflict. Hollie would like to work for USAID before pursuing graduate studies and a career with an agency such as the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor within the U.S. Department of State. She is interested in the post-colonial promotion of human rights in Africa.
Illinois senior Ruchi Tekriwal, of Lakeville, Minnesota, has been offered a $20,000 Boren Scholarship to study Arabic in Jordan in academic year 2014-15. Tekriwal is majoring in linguistics. She has studied Arabic for 10 semesters, including a semester in Morocco, and is the recipient of a Critical Languages Scholarship for study of Arabic in summer 2014. She also speaks French and Hindi. Tekriwal is interested in colloquial Arabic dialects and is particularly drawn to Jordan because of its pivotal role and strategic importance for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. She plans to utilize her extensive foreign language skills in a U.S. government service career.
“The University of Illinois is delighted that the Boren Scholarship has chosen to invest in Kevin, Morgan, and Ruchi,” said David Schug, the director of the National and International Scholarships Program at Illinois, which promotes the Boren and other nationally competitive awards and assists students and alumni in applying for them. “From Asia, to Africa, to the Middle East, we look forward to these fine students’ future contributions in creating a more peaceful world for us all.”
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