HDS - Financial Aid - Outside Funding for Language Study

Financial Aid

Outside Funding for Language Study

Scholarships are listed alphabetically by the name of the sponsoring organization. Unless otherwise noted, please submit applications for funding directly to the sponsoring organization.

American School of Classical Studies at Athens Summer Sessions

The summer sessions at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, which run for two six-week periods each, are open to North American graduate and advanced undergraduate students and to high school and college instructors of classics and related fields. In these sessions, the school condenses its academic-year program into an intensive introduction to the sites, museums, and monuments of Greece. The summer programs are open to 20 participants each session.

Asia Center Graduate Summer Research Grants

The Graduate Summer Language Grants (GSLG) (PDF; Adobe Reader required) for East, South, and Southeast Asian language study are offered jointly by the Harvard University Asia Center, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Korea Institute, and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. These grants are for students enrolled in a master's or doctoral program at Harvard in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences or any of Harvard University's professional Schools for study during the summer of an East Asian language (including the Altaic languages) or of one of the languages of South or Southeast Asia. Study should take place at accredited programs outside of the United States, but exceptions may be made when this is not possible. Priority will be given to advanced study in a primary language, to the study of a secondary language that is necessary for the completion of the degree, or to the study of a secondary language that is necessary for advanced research. Grants will normally not exceed $6,000. Students are encouraged to budget realistically and, when appropriate, to seek support from other sources, which may be combined with GSLG funds. Students seeking support for the study of South Asian languages should also consult the grant programs offered by the South Asia Initiative. Application deadline is Friday, February 27, 2009. Application and instructions are available on the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' Fellowships Office website.

Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences administers the Foreign Languages and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for East Asia. The FLAS is a federal program that supports the study of modern languages and related area courses. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, be engaged in the study of an eligible foreign language and related area courses, be preparing for a career in teaching or in public service in which proficiency in the language of application is necessary or highly desirable, and be engaged in full-time study during the entire award period. Fellowships are available both for the summer and for the academic year. Eligible East Asian languages are Mandarin (at least two years prior study), Japanese (at least two years prior study), Korean, Tibetan, and Vietnamese. Applications for the summer FLAS are due by January 9, 2009. Visit the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' FLAS web page for more details.

Critical Language Scholarships for Intensive Summer Institutes

Sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and administered by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC), the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program will offer intensive summer language institutes overseas in 11 critical-need foreign languages for summer 2009. The CLS Program was launched in 2006 to offer intensive overseas study in the critical-need foreign languages of Arabic, Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish, and Urdu. In 2007, Chinese, Korean, Persian, and Russian institutes were added, along with increased student capacity in the inaugural language institutes. In 2009, Azerbaijani will be offered at the intermediate and advanced levels.

The CLS Program provides fully funded 7- to 10-week group-based intensive language instruction and extensive cultural enrichment experiences held overseas at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels (beginning not offered for Azerbaijani, Chinese, Persian or Russian) for U.S. citizen undergraduate, master's and PhD students. CLS institute locations and information for 2009 may be found under "Program Details." The deadline for the summer 2009 CLS Program was November 14, 2008.

The CLS Program is part of the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), a U.S. government interagency effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical-need foreign languages. Students of diverse disciplines and majors are encouraged to apply. Former CLS participants have had various academic backgrounds, including business, engineering, law, science, medicine, social sciences, and humanities. The CLS Program does not have any government service requirement upon completion; however, it is expected that participants will continue their language study beyond the scholarship period and later apply their critical language skills in their future academic and professional careers.

Harvard University Foreign Languages and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS)

The Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' FLAS Fellowships promote foreign language competence and international world area knowledge by ensuring the continuance of area expertise in a variety of fields, including academia.

The FLAS Fellowship is an annual competition designed to finance graduate study in foreign languages and appropriately related area studies. Applications will be available online and at the GSAS financial aid office, and are due by January 9, 2009, for continuing students and January 2, 2009, for prospective students. The FLAS is a one-year award. Students must compete annually for additional years of FLAS support. Prior FLAS support does not guarantee or preclude additional support from future competitions.

The FLAS Fellowship competition is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents whose academic interests involve studies in East Asia, East Europe, Latin America, or the Middle East. Approved programs may be interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary and must always include study or research in an approved language of the area of specialization. Nominees and alternates are selected by a World Area Committee composed of faculty representatives from each of the priority fields of study. Nominees must be approved by the U.S. Department of Education before the fellowship can be finalized. Subject to U.S. Department of Education approval, academic year FLAS Fellowships may be utilized domestically or overseas for language and area studies. FLAS Academic Year Fellowship awards may also be used for dissertation research—provided the student is at the advanced level of language proficiency. The use of language in dissertation research must be extensive enough to be able to consider the foreign language improvement facilitated by the research equal to the improvement that would be obtained from a full academic year's worth of formal instruction. Fellowships require affiliation with an academic institution or organization approved by the Department of Education.

Summer FLAS Fellowships are available for intensive language study only. Applications for the summer are due by January 9, 2009.

FLAS Fellows must complete a Student Performance Report at the end of each fellowship year. Failure to submit this report precludes future participation in the program. For further information please contact:

FLAS Coordinator, 1350 Massachusetts Ave., Holyoke Center, 3rd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone: 617.495.5396. Fax: 617.496.5333. Email: flas@fas.harvard.edu.

Kathryn Davis Fellowships for Peace: Investing in the Study of Critical Languages

Middlebury College Language Schools announces the Kathryn Davis Fellowships for Peace: Investing in the Study of Critical Languages. The fellowship includes the cost of tuition, room, board, and a travel stipend for individuals to study Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Portuguese, or Russian at the Middlebury College Language Schools for the summer of 2009. Middlebury will be awarding 100 fellowships for the summer of 2009. Working professionals as well as current graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to apply. The application deadline is February 2, 2009.

Harvard Divinity School