Two USU Students Given National Awards for Study Abroad

Two Utah State University students received competitive and internationally recognized awards to help fund international experiences abroad during 2010-2011 school year.

 

Porter Illi, a political science and international studies major, was awarded a Boren Award to study Arabic in Morocco. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships provide unique funding opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students from the United States to add an important international and language component to their educations. Boren Awards focus on geographic areas, languages and fields of study that are critical to United States’ interests and that are underrepresented in study abroad. The 2010-11 National Security Education Program (NSEP) Boren Scholarship program awarded 138 awards from a pool of 925 applications.

 

“The Boren scholarship will not only serve as an invaluable opportunity to learn Modern Standard Arabic and Moroccan colloquial Arabic, but also to learn about and understand the people and culture of the Maghreb,” Illi said. “These skills will give me the language capability to understand and translate intelligence, as well as help me comprehend the regional culture.”

 

Zachary Maughan, majoring in German and American studies, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship for Germany. The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It provides funding for students, scholars, teachers and professionals to undertake graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools.

 

“I spent a year studying in Germany, and I am excited to go back and teach there,” Maughan said. “Traveling is something I always try to make time for and enjoy.”

 

Kay Forsyth, director of USU Study Abroad, is the USU coordinator for students who wish to apply to either of these programs in the future. The Fulbright awards for year 2011-12 opens May 1, 2010, and the USU deadline is Sept 15, 2010. The Boren deadline is Jan. 31, 2011.