Three Columbia University undergraduates selected for the 2023 Critical Language Scholarship
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) is a summer study abroad program for American students to deepen their linguistic skills and cultural understanding of languages considered essential to America’s engagement with the world. The eight to ten week opportunity offers awardees an immersive, cohort based program in one of a dozen or more locations abroad.
As a program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, CLS partners with universities and nonprofits around the globe to provide each cohort of U.S. student awardees the opportunity to study the language and culture in a location where the target language is commonly spoken. Each site overseas includes a curriculum grounded within intensive language instruction and cultural enrichment activities, all focused on facilitating an accelerated pace of language acquisition.
Congratulations to Columbia’s 2023 UNDERGRADUATE awardees!
Muna Ali CC'25
Muna Ali CC’25
Muna, a rising junior from Columbus, OH, will be participating in Arabic language study at the Arab American Language Institute in Meknes, Morocco (AALIM). As an anthropology major with a concentration in statistics, she looks forward to building her Arabic language skills and deepening her understanding of the contextual role of Arabic in North Africa.
Jennifer Chiu CC’26
Jennifer, a native of Memphis, TN, is a rising sophomore studying linguistics and computer science. She will spend the summer studying Korean in Busan, South Korea and is excited for the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Korean on a linguistic level and ultimately plans to explore the intersection between computer science and linguistics.
Josh is a rising senior and human rights major, who will study Russian this summer.
URF also congratulates Lily Mirsepassi of SIPA, who will study Persian, and Roma Patel, GSAS, who will study Hindi abroad with CLS this summer.
Current students can learn more about the Critical Language Scholarship and other fellowship offerings through Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.