Students awarded scholarships for international study

Chapman University
junior business majors Eva Wong and Rebecca Luc have received prestigious scholarships to study Chinese at Peking University in China. 

Both Wong and Luc received Gilman International Scholarships and Wong also received a highly-competitive Boren Scholarship from the National Security Education Program (NSEP). The Boren awards are part of a major federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. 

“Receiving the Boren and Gilman scholarships has opened the doors for me to study abroad in China, be immersed in Mandarin and learn more about the culture,” Wong said. “I am extremely thankful for all the people who have helped me through the rigorous application process, especially Dean Barbara Mulch.” 

Boren Awards provide U.S. undergraduate and graduate students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to the future security and stability of the United States. In exchange for funding, Boren award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year. 

“The National Security Education Program,” according to Robert Slater, director of NSEP, “represents an essential component of a comprehensive national security strategy to address serious and long-time deficiencies in critical language expertise.”  

For the second consecutive year, the Institute of International Education, which administers the awards on behalf of NSEP, received a record number of applications for both the undergraduate Boren Scholarship and the graduate Boren Fellowship. This year, 925 undergraduate students applied for the Boren Scholarship and 138 were awarded, while 519 graduate students applied for the Boren Fellowship and 99 were awarded. 

The Gilman Scholarship Program offers awards for undergraduate study abroad and was established by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000.

Based both on merit and need, the program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study abroad and the countries and regions where they go.