The Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies congratulates its seven Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship recipients for summer 2024.

Sophie Boelk, an undergraduate Russian and French major, will study 4th-year Russian in Kazakhstan through the American Councils Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies Program. Sophie's long-term career goal is to use her language skills to become an interpreter working for the UN or a government organization.

Kale Fuller is an undergraduate Russian major with minors in History and Turkish and Central Asian Studies. He will study 4th year Russian in the SRAS Russian as a Second Language program in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He ultimately hopes to earn a PhD related to Central Asian Studies to educate Americans and guide US policy towards this region that is often misunderstood or ignored.

Jay Hadfield, a PhD student in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures, will study 5th-year Russian at the Middlebury Summer Language School. Jay plans to become a professor, sharing his love of Russian language, literature and culture with future generations of students.

Angelo Juarez, an undergraduate double-majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Russian with a minor in Aviation Engineering, will study 3rd-year Russian in Kyrgyzstan through the SRAS Russian as a Second Language program. He aspires to practice medicine in the US military. 

Sophie Papp is an undergraduate Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Russian double major, with a minor in Disability Studies. They will travel to Almaty, Kazakhstan to study 4th-year Russian in the American Councils Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies Program. Sophie aims to become a professor researching and teaching at the intersections of queer studies, Slavic studies, and disability studies.

Siobhan Seigne is a PhD student in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures. Her long-term career goal is to work in either the Foreign Service as a public diplomacy officer or in academia as a professor of Russian and Slavic literature. She has been awarded FLAS to study 2nd-year Bulgarian in the American Councils Balkan Language Initiative in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Samantha Smith is an undergraduate majoring in Russian and International Studies with a specialization in Security and Intelligence and a minor in Military History. She is also a member of the Ohio Air National Guard. She will enroll in 3rd-year Russian at the Indiana University Summer Language Workshop. She hopes to use her language skills and cultural knowledge in the future to become a military linguist and linguist for the federal government.

The summer FLAS Fellowship program awards fellowships to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who are seeking to complete an intensive language program over the summer term. Intensive programs meet 15-20 hours per week for at least six weeks, meaning that students complete the equivalent of a whole year’s language study over the course of a couple of months. The fellowship provides a stipend and tuition benefit to students. The application for summer 2025 fellowships will open in fall 2024.