Bard College Student Wins 2017 Boren Scholarship

Bard College student Tonery Rogers ’19 has won David L. Boren Scholarship for $20,000 to study Arabic in Jordan for the spring and summer of 2018. Rogers is the first Bard student to win a Boren Scholarship, a federal initiative that encourages the study of language skills in countries critical to the future security and stability of our nation. Her Boren Scholarship supports her studies with AMIDEAST, a leading American non-profit organization engaged in international education, training and development activities in the Middle East and North Africa. Rogers also won a full scholarship to attend the Summer Arabic Language and Media program at the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center in Oman. This summer, she will also attend the Bard Abroad program at the American University in Central Asia.

The Institute of International Education (IIE), on behalf of the National Security Education Program (NSEP), awarded 194 David L. Boren Scholarships to undergraduate students and 114 David L. Boren Fellowships to graduate students to add important international and language components to their educations by studying overseas in world regions critical to U.S. interests. Boren Scholars and Fellows will live in 44 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. They will study 36 different languages. The most popular languages include Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Swahili, and Korean. This year, 791 undergraduate students applied for the Boren Scholarship and 340 graduate students applied for the Boren Fellowship.

NSEP is a major federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. NSEP’s Boren Awards program provides U.S. undergraduate and graduate students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to the future security and stability of our nation. In exchange for funding, Boren Award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year. “The National Security Education Program,” according to Dr. Michael A. Nugent, NSEP Director, “is helping change the U.S. higher education system and the way Americans approach the study of foreign languages and cultures.”

“To continue to play a leadership role in the world, it is vital that America's future leaders have a deep understanding of the rest of the world,” says University of Oklahoma President David Boren, who as a U.S. Senator was the principal author of the legislation that created the National Security Education Program and the scholarships and fellowships that bear his name. “As we seek to lead through partnerships, understanding of other cultures and languages is absolutely essential.”

Since 1994, over 6,000 students have received Boren Awards. Boren Scholars and Fellows represent a vital pool of highly motivated individuals who wish to work in the federal national security arena, and program alumni are contributing to the critical missions of agencies throughout the federal government. An independent not-for-profit founded in 1919, IIE is among the world's largest and most experienced international education and exchange organizations. Undergraduate and graduate students interested in applying for the Boren Awards should contact IIE at [email protected] or visit www.borenawards.org.

This event was last updated on 05-12-2017

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