Six UNC students receive critical language scholarships from U.S. Department of State

Mount Fuji, Japan. (Photo by Lauren Campbell ’11.)
Mount Fuji, Japan. (Photo by Lauren Campbell ’11.)

Six students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study critical needs languages during the summer of 2015. The UNC awardees are:

  • Clayton Hackney ’15, from Gastonia, N.C., will study Chinese in Suzhou, China. Hackney majored in economics.
  • Sarah Muscutt ’15, from Asheville, N.C., will study Korean in Gwangju, South Korea. Muscutt majored in Asian studies.
  • Aaron Delgaty ’18, from Grand Haven, Mich., will study Japanese in Hikone, Japan. Delgaty is an anthropology Ph.D. student.
  • Jovonnie Quintero-Avelar ’17, from Tempe, Ariz., will study Azerbaijani in Baku, Azerbaijan. Quintero-Avelar is double-majoring in environmental science and anthropology.
  • Carissa Landes ’16, from Bainbridge Island, Wash., will study Persian in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Landes is pursuing a master’s degree in Russian and East European studies.
  • Derek Pace ’16, from Midland, N.C., will study Arabic in Tangier, Morocco. Pace is double-majoring in political science and religious studies.

These UNC students are among the approximately 550 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students who received a scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s CLS Program in 2015. Participants will spend seven to 10 weeks in intensive language institutes this summer in their host country.

The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. It provides fully funded, group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences. Program participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers. Participants are among the more than 50,000 academic and professional exchange program participants supported annually by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to increase diversity among international educational exchange program participants and promote mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

UNC students may visit the Center for Global Initiatives website for more information about the award and support available to applicants.