FLAS Fellowships
The Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (CSAMES), a Title VI National Resource Center for Middle Eastern studies, invites applications for academic year and summer Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships for graduate students. The fellowships are awarded to students with exceptional promise who after graduation will enter professional fields where knowledge of the Middle East and its related areas will be relevant.

Students in all disciplines are eligible to apply for the CSAMES FLAS fellowships. The Center strongly encourages graduate students pursuing professional degrees, such as engineering, health, economics, etc, to apply. Preference will be given to applicants with a Middle Eastern focus within their discipline.

Application deadline:

Feb 15, 2008 by 5pm for applications submitted through students' academic departments. Applicants should contact their department for internal deadlines for submission of application materials.

** For incoming and current CSAMES MA students, the application deadline is Feb 10, 2008.

Academic year award:

The FLAS fellowship covers tuition plus a stipend of $15,000. Students are required to pay all refundable fees (approximately $27 per semester). Students need to enroll in language classes and area study courses with Middle Eastern studies content in the fall and spring semesters.

Summer award:

FLAS covers tuition and fees, plus a stipend of $2,500. Room, board, travel and miscellaneous fees may not be included in the tuition and fees payment, but must be covered by the student's stipend even if the program bills those as part of the fee. Program tuition and fees, plus UIUC fees of approximately $500, cannot exceed $4,000. Summer awards are only for intensive language training and cannot be used for research abroad.

Eligibility:

Applicants must be a US citizen or permanent resident and a current or incoming full-time graduate student at UIUC. Applicants are not eligible to apply for support for study of a language of which they are a native speaker. Candidates who currently hold or have previously been awarded a FLAS fellowship may reapply.

Languages approved for study for CSAMES FLAS fellows:

  • Arabic
  • Hebrew
  • Turkish

Application requirements:
The application packet should include:

  • Cover sheet
  • Completed application form (online for current students or paper for incoming students)
  • Three letters of recommendation: one must be from the student's academic advisor and, except for students applying for beginning language instructions, one must be from the recent language instructor
  • Graduate and undergraduate transcripts
  • Statement of Purpose essay of no more than two pages, explaining how the language course relates to the student's long-term professional goals and academic program

For further instructions and application forms, please visit the university FLAS site at http://www.ilint.uiuc.edu/flas

Contact information:

If you have questions or queries about the CSAMES FLAS program, please contact Ritu Saksena (Email: rsaksena at illinois.edu or Ph: (217) 244-5939)

CIC Foreign Language Enhancement Program Fellowships

Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Foreign Language Enhancement Program (FLEP) scholarships ( http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/programs/FLEP/ ) are available to help graduate students take advantage of language offerings not available at their home university, but available at another CIC (Big Ten schools plus U of Chicago) member university. Scholarships are intended to cover living expenses incurred while attending another CIC host institution during the summer session.  For more information contact, Catherine Player at cplayer@cic.uiuc.edu

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