Four Stanford students win Boren Awards for International Study

Four Stanford students are recipients of 2010 Boren Awards for International Study. The David L. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are sponsored by the National Security Education Program, a federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. The Boren Scholarship provides undergraduates with up to $20,000; the Boren Fellowships provide graduate students up to $30,000.

The awards make it possible for U.S. students to develop language skills and experience in countries deemed critical to the future security and stability of the United States. In exchange for funding, Boren Award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year.

ELIZABETH Z. HARMON, a member of the Stanford Class of 2012 who is majoring in international relations and Arabic, has been awarded a Boren Scholarship to study Arabic at the University of Damascus in Syria during the next academic year.

In addition, three Stanford graduate students have received Boren Fellowships, which support graduate study and research in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. The fellowship recipients are:

SUSAN GARNETT RUSSELL, doctoral candidate in education, who will study the language of Kinyarwanda in Rwanda while examining the role of education in promoting social reconstruction and reconciliation in that country;

WILSON VELASCO, a master’s student who will pursue intensive Japanese language study at the Inter-University Center in Yokohama, Japan; and

SHANE MORRISON, a student in the School of Medicine, who will study Albanian in Albania and Kosovo.

Students interested in Boren Awards and other international study opportunities can find out more at the Bechtel International Center.