Six A&S students selected for U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship Program
The U.S. Department of State has selected six students studying foreign languages at Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science to receive the 2021 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS). Through the competitive program, CLS scholars will receive intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences through partnership with local institutions in countries where the languages are commonly spoken.
These Vanderbilt students will spend eight to ten weeks studying their language of choice this summer:
- Brannen Dickson, Chinese
- Pansy Lu, Russian
- Jaret Rushing, Urdu
- Musa Subramaniam, Hindi
- Aileen Lorge, Korean
- Luis Martinez, Portuguese
“Languages have been a passion of mine since I was nine, when I first had the opportunity to study a foreign language,” said Dickson, an Asian studies major. “I chose to major in a language because I wanted a deeper understanding and greater mastery of the language from both a linguistic and cultural perspective.”
The CLS Program is part of a U.S. governmental effort to expand the number of Americans studying critical foreign languages and enable them to contribute to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security. The scholarship is awarded to students studying one of 15 critical languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, or Urdu.
“Learning about the culture and history of Korea in tandem with the language enhances my understanding of both,” said Lorge, an Asian studies major. “South Korea is an important global innovator and I hope for a career in business or diplomacy helping to strengthen ties between the United States and South Korea.”
Learn more about the Critical Language Scholarship.