BSOS Celebrates 2015 Boren Scholars

Eight undergraduates with ties to the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences are among the nine UMD students who were recently offered Boren Scholarships to pursue intensive language studies in critical regions around the world.

The Boren Scholarship, a Department of Defense award, provides up to $20,000 for long-term, language-focused study abroad experience. The scholarship is designed for students with a serious interest in using their language and regional knowledge skills in U.S. Government service.

This year, 750 students nationwide competed for 171 Boren Scholarships. Maryland ranked first in the nation for Boren Scholarships for the previous three award years, and has ranked no lower than third for the past 5 years.

“Our students’ exceptional performance in the Boren program attests strongly to the power of undergraduate language studies to enhance career and scholarship competitiveness. Their strong showing this year is built on the strengths of UMD’s academic programs and faculty, as reflected in the many and varied affiliations of our successful candidates,” said Francis DuVinage, director of the National Scholarships Office and the Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research.

In addition to BSOS, this year’s cadre of Boren Scholars are affiliated with the College of Arts and Humanities and its School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures; the School’s Arabic Flagship Program; the School’s Persian Flagship Program; and the Federal Semester Program within the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

2015-16 BSOS Boren Scholarship Awardees

Mariam Badi is a senior majoring in Government and Politics and minoring in International Development and Conflict Management. In Spring 2014, she studied abroad at the University of Manchester in England. In Summer 2013, she taught English with Learning Enterprises in El Guasimo, Panama. Badi is currently interning at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in Washington, D.C. She also is an alumna of the College Park Scholars Public Leadership Program. She will use her Boren Scholarship to study Swahili in Tanzania.

Olivia Bethea is a junior majoring in Government and Politics and in French Language and Literature. During Summer 2013, she interned at the National Archives and Records Administration. Since June 2014, she has interned at the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bethea earned a citation in Honors Humanities from the Honors College. With her Boren award, she will study French and Wolof in Senegal.

Brian DeShong is a senior majoring in Government and Politics and in Arabic Studies. He also participated in the College Park Scholars Science, Discovery and the Universe program. He has studied abroad in Rabat, Morocco, where he interned with the National Human Rights Council and taught English. He will be enrolling at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh, Morocco, to study Arabic during his Boren year abroad.

Sarah Iskander is a senior majoring in Arabic Studies and minoring in Middle Eastern Studies and in International Development and Conflict Management who will use her Boren Award to study Arabic in Jordan.

Lindsay Jodoin is a junior majoring in Government and Politics and minoring in Arabic, and has studied abroad in Amman, Jordan. She interned in the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in the summer of 2013. She is also a recipient of a Summer 2015 Critical Language Scholarship award for intensive Arabic study abroad. Jodoin will study Arabic at the Qasid Institute in Amman, Jordan, during her Boren year abroad.

Anna Pavlos is a senior majoring in Government and Politics and in Arabic Studies, with a minor in Global Terrorism Studies, and is a member of Maryland’s Arabic Flagship Program and of the University Honors Program of the Honors College. She has had multiple internships at the Department of State and with UMD’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). With her Boren Award, Pavlos will study Arabic in Meknes, Morocco, with the Arabic Flagship Overseas Program.

Catherine Tappert is a senior majoring in Government and Politics and in Arabic Studies, and is a member of Maryland’s Arabic Flagship Program and of the University Honors Program of the Honors College. She has interned with START, has taken part in the Federal Semester program, and has worked full-time for more than a year with the office of the Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of Iraq in the United States. Tappert will enroll in the Arabic Flagship Overseas Program in Meknes, Morocco, during her Boren year abroad.

Joseph Sammarco is a senior majoring in Arabic Studies and in Persian Studies. He has lived in the Arabic Cluster of Language House, is a member of the Intelligence Center of Academic Excellence program at Maryland, and has interned with START, which is housed within BSOS. This year, Sammarco is participating in the campus-based Capstone Year of Maryland’s Persian Flagship Program, and next year he will enroll in the Arabic Flagship Overseas Program in Meknes, Morocco, for his Boren Scholarship.

Published on Mon, Apr 20, 2015 - 10:57AM