University of Iowa News Release

July 23, 2004

UI Graduate Students Win Fellowships For Foreign Language Study

Some 14 University of Iowa graduate students have the opportunity to study less commonly taught languages such as Arabic, Estonian, Hungarian and Quichua after receiving Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships for this summer and the coming academic year.

This year these fellowships have been awarded to UI graduate students pursuing international careers in anthropology, political science and second language acquisition, with the intention of helping students gain fluency in languages that will be of value to their professional careers.

All these students are studying languages not widely spoken in the United States. All fellowships offer a stipend plus full tuition and may be used for beginning level course work in approved less commonly taught languages at a U.S. institution or for intermediate or advanced-level intensive language study at an institution in the United States or abroad.

FLAS fellowships are funded by a Title VI National Resource Center grant from the U.S. Department of Education. UI International Programs administers the fellowship program. For more information on the FLAS fellowships, contact Janet Delwiche, International Programs, National Resource Center, at 319-335-1466.

International Programs consists of a number of offices, centers, academic programs, research projects, and services. Organized under the associate provost for academic programs and dean for international programs, these units serve to further internationalize the campus and community and promote global scholarship, research and teaching.

FLAS fellowship winners are listed alphabetically by hometown with Iowa students listed first:

IOWA

EAST PERU: David Puderbaugh, a graduate student in music, will study Estonian at the University of Washington in Seattle.

IOWA CITY: April Dirks, a doctoral student in social work, is studying a dialect of Spanish in Oaxaca, Mexico, this summer.

IOWA CITY: Joshua Thoms, a doctoral student in the Second Language Acquisition program and the Foreign Language Acquisition and Research Education program, is studying Guarini this summer in Paraguay.

MASON CITY: Holley Hansen, a doctoral student in political science, is studying Russian at the University of Iowa.

ZEARING: Meredith Good, a graduate student pursuing in interdisciplinary studies/international studies with a focus in global health, is studying advanced Russian this summer in Moscow.

ARIZONA

TUCSON: Karleen Jones, a doctoral student in political science, will study Quichua in Ecuador.

CONNECTICUT

STAMFORD: Robin Tierney, a doctoral candidate in cinema and comparative literature, will study advanced French at the Sorbonne in Paris.

KANSAS

HUNTER: Kenda Stewart, a doctoral student in anthropology, will study beginning Arabic in Middlebury, Vermont.

LOUISIANA

NEW ORLEANS: Natasha Wilson, a doctoral candidate in political science, is studying Dutch through the University of Minnesota this summer.

MICHIGAN

DEARBORN: Linda Mokdad, a doctoral student in cinema and comparative literature, is studying Arabic this summer through the University of Michigan.

MINNESOTA

ST. PAUL: Rebecca Church, a graduate student in history, will study Arabic through the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

WOODBURY: Lisa Dykstra, a doctoral student in the Second Language Acquisition Program, will study Russian.

PENNSYLVANIA

WARRINGTON: Ellen Sweeney, a doctoral student in cinema and comparative literature, is studying Hindi in Mussoorie, India.

TEXAS

FORT WORTH: Andria Timmer, a doctoral candidate in anthropology, is studying Hungarian in Hungary this summer.

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite 371, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500.

CONTACTS: Media: Lois Gray, 319-335-2026, lois-gray@uiowa.edu.