Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Awards 2010
Academic Year Foreign Language Area Studies awards are made to students enrolled in graduate degree programs at Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, or North Carolina State University for the term of the award for:
- A formal academic program of full-time study during the academic year, in the
United States or abroad; - Dissertation research abroad during the academic year.
Please note: Only students who possess sufficient foreign language skills to carry out the dissertation research can be approved for FLAS dissertation awards. Therefore, only students who are at the advanced level of language proficiency can be approved
by IEGPS to use a FLAS for dissertation research. The use of language
in dissertation research must be extensive enough 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 classroom instruction. Students wishing to use an award for a formal study abroad program must be at the intermediate
or advanced level of language proficiency, or at the beginning level if
an appropriate beginning language program in the student’s language is
not available in the United States.
Summer FLAS
awards are made to students who are enrolled in graduate degree
programs at Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, or North Carolina State University who are seeking summer
intensive language study in a FLAS-approved program located in the U.S. or abroad. Summer FLAS fellowships support students enrolled in:
- formal domestic programs of intensive language study at the beginning, intermediate or advanced level; or
- formal overseas programs of intensive language study at the intermediate or
advanced level; or - formal overseas programs of intensive study at the beginning level of languages
for which appropriate equivalent instruction is not available in the United States
Please note: For the purposes of this program, “intensive” summer language programs are those which offer a minimum of 120 contact hours of advanced-level language instruction and 140 contact hours of beginning- or intermediate-level instruction. In order to be considered intensive, summer language programs should generally last a minimum of 6 weeks; longer programs are preferable because they are more likely to provide the student with the equivalent of a full year of language study.
Languages currently approved for funding:
-Bengali
-Hindi
-Nepali
-Persian
-Tamil
-Urdu
Eligibility and stipulations
- Only U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents are eligible to apply for FLAS Fellowships.
- Any "Incomplete" on a student's transcript when the FLAS Selection Committee
meets renders the student ineligible for a FLAS Fellowship. - An award fellow must be, and remain, in good standing in the degree program at
his respective institution and demonstrate satisfactory progress. - A student is eligible for a maximum of 4 years of FLAS support as follows:
- 3 academic years of language study support at the pre-dissertation stage;
- 1 academic year in the writing stage (not research stage; generally at least
the first year) of the dissertation
Please note: Summer FLAS does not count against total FLAS eligibility.
- An academic year FLAS must begin in the Fall Semester and be accepted by the recipient for both the Fall and Spring Semesters during that academic year.
- An academic year FLAS Fellowship recipient is required to enroll in a South Asian language course and a South Asian area studies course during each semester of
the award period. - Summer FLAS recipients are required to enroll in a course of modern language
study equivalent to one full academic year of study. No area studies course is required or allowed. - A summer FLAS must be the equivalent of one full academic year of study (2 semesters).
- Students wishing to use an academic year fellowship or summer FLAS fellowship
for a formal overseas study program must be at the intermediate or advanced
level of language proficiency, or at the beginning level if appropriate equivalent instruction is not available in the United States. - Pre-dissertators must demonstrate that the language of application is significant
to their degree and career goals. - Only students who are at the advanced level of language proficiency can be approved to use a FLAS for dissertation research.
- Dissertators are not required to continue language study, but must demonstrate
that the language of application was used significantly in their dissertation research and is significant to their dissertation writing. - Travel abroad for either academic year or summer requires written approval and inspection of itinerary by FLAS coordinator and Department of Education Program Officer at least thirty days in advance of departure.
- All international travel must comply with the Fly America Act.
- All FLAS fellows agree to complete a final online report of their activities at the
end of the award period.
Additional note: The U.S. Department of Education Title VI Program (funding agency for FLAS) requires that the FLAS application process be available to graduate students in all disciplines of the three campuses of the NC Center for South
Asia Studies. We are also encouraged to fund students broadly across
disciplines and departments. The FLAS Committee will evaluate
applications on the merit of language study need, rather than
departmental requirements for language study. Considering the number of
qualified applicants with justifiable need for language acquisition,
applicants are encouraged to consider FLAS as potential funding for two
years of language study, with a long-term plan for other sources of funding.
Application requisites
- Bio-data sheet (see below)
- One-page academic resume or curriculum vitae
- Graduate and/or other relevant transcripts
- One-page statement of intended course of study or research activity
- Three letters of recommendation, at least one from a language instructor
- Application deadline for Spring 2010 to be announced soon.
Award amounts
- Academic year: graduate tuition up to $12,000 and a stipend of $15,000/academic year
- Summer:
full graduate summer tuition or summer language program tuition up to
$4,000 and a living stipend of $2,500 (less prepaid room and board
expenses in some summer language programs), and in some cases
assistance with international travel expenses up to the amount of
$1,000 but not exceeding the actual cost of travel
to and from the program site.
Selection and ranking
The North Carolina Center for South Asia Studies is a National Resource Center for South Asia and an interdisciplinary educational cooperative, not a
teaching department, and promotes the study of South Asia across its
three principal campuses, Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University. With
the exception of the eligibility stipulations above, there is no
priority study discipline for FLAS Fellowships. The FLAS Committee
reviews all applicants from any discipline and makes rankings based on
the materials of the application.
This is an annual competition. The following application materials will be given equal weight:
- Past academic performance based on the transcripts and GRE scores submitted by the applicant (note that these are annual competitions, individual performance is measured against the performance of other applicants every year).
- The one-page applicant statement of academic interest, purpose, and plans for the award period, plus answers to the questions on the application form (note that career goals are requested on the application).
- Letters of recommendation. (Note that 1 non-language and 1 language references
are requested. The language reference will be used to determine an applicant's ability to learn a language. Previous study of a South Asian language is not required.)
Selection
is "language blind." It is based on the quality of an applicant's
overall record (including undergraduate and graduate student
performance and GRE scores), the applicant's application form, the
applicant's statement of purpose (with emphasis on the need for
language study), and letters of recommendation.
A student's financial situation is not an allowable consideration, nor are varying tuition rates at various campuses.
Lowest consideration in the selection of fellows is given to students who already possess language fluency equivalent to educated native speakers in the
language for which the award is sought, including dissertators; and
students who are applying for dissertation research or writing as
opposed to students applying for language acquisition.
FLAS rankings are private information and are not posted or conveyed in
any way as public information. To protect applicant privacy, an
individual may inquire from the FLAS Coordinator as to his or her rank, but will not be given
additional information such as total number of applicants or the rank
of any other individual. The FLAS coordinator may be able to give a
general idea as to the competitiveness of an annual competition and the
likeliness of an award to an individual applicant who requests that
information.
Due to the alternative funds available for fieldwork, academic year
FLAS awards will not be available for research in the first year of
dissertator status. FLAS awards will be for "write-up" use when the
student is at the dissertation stage. Note that the U.S. Department of
Education Title VI Program discourages centers from making awards to
dissertators.
Application Instructions: We are pleased to invite applications from
graduate students in all academic departments and professional schools for
these FLAS fellowships. Please send five copies of the following
application materials to the Center for South Asia Studies no later than
5:00 p.m., DATE TO BE DETERMINED, SPRING 2010.
Submit completed application [download here], with CV, statement of intended
course of study, transcripts, letters of reference, etc., to:
Duke:
FLAS Fellowship Application
c/o Baishakhi Taylor
Center for South Asia Studies
Duke University
109 Franklin Center Box 90402
Durham, North Carolina 27708-0402
(919) 668.2146 fax: (919) 684.8749
UNC:
FLAS Fellowship Application
c/o Peter Landstrom, Admin. Manager
FedEx Global Education Center
291 Pittsboro St. CB# 7582
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7582
(919) 843-0129 fax: (919) 843-2102
NC State:
FLAS Fellowship Application
c/o David Gilmartin
Department of History
Box 8108
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-8108
Phone: 919-513-2243 Fax: 919-515-3886