This year’s Boren Fellowship Symposium was held on September 9-10 in Washington, DC.  More than 50 Boren Fellowship alumni attended the symposium that opened with a welcome by Allan Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute of International Education and Robert Slater, director of the National Security Education Program.

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A highlight of the Boren Fellowship Symposium was the presentation of the Howard Baker Jr. and Sol Linowitz Awards to distinguished Boren Alumni.  This year’s Howard Baker Jr. Award was presented to Shana Leenerts, a 2001 Boren Scholar to China.  Tamara Crouse, a 2003 Boren Fellow in China, received the Sol Linowitz Award. 

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"After two years of college football, it became apparent that I would never make it to the NFL.  Luckily, I had good grades and aspirations of becoming a lawyer.  While taking an introductory Japanese course at Nebraska Wesleyan University, a woman from my school’s international office came and told us about scholarships to Japan.  Boren was one of the scholarships introduced.  This perked my intellectual curiosity about the economic relationship between the United States and Japan in the agricultural context, as well as the more complicated aspects of the Japanese language. P rior to this, I had never lived outside of Nebraska and knew virtually nothing about Japan, other than that it bought lots of Nebraskan farm products.  This was about to change."

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After volunteering at a grassroots nongovernmental organization in Malawi in 2002, Amanda Tatum developed a passion for studying the politics of Africa.  As an undergraduate student majoring in international relations at the University of South Carolina, Amanda concentrated on themes of sustainable development, democracy in Africa, and the Swahili language.  In 2008 Amanda won a Boren Scholarship to study in Tanzania.

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All Boren Scholarship and Fellowship Applicants Must Address National Security in their Essays

The David L. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships focus on geographic areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security.  Applicants for the Scholarship must explain the significance of their study abroad experience (including the region they selected, its culture, and the language they will study) to U.S. national security, broadly defined.  Fellowship applicants need to explain how their project, region, and language of study relate to U.S. national security, broadly defined.  So, as a potential applicant, how do you explain the relevance of your studies to U.S. national security?

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The Boren Scholarships offer a special initiative for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors.

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The Boren Awards will be offering a series of webinars this fall.  These online information sessions are an easy, accessible way to learn more about the Boren Scholarships and Fellowships.

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We are happy to announce the start of our Boren Awards Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/borenawards.  The Boren Awards Facebook page and Twitter feed are a great forums for Boren alumni, students interested in the Boren Awards, and campus representatives to connect and discuss the Boren Scholarships and Fellowships. Become our Facebook fan today!  If you do not have an account, follow the simple directions on the welcome page.  If you need to set up a Twitter account go to twitter.com.  You can also connect with to our Facebook or Twitter page from BorenAwards.org.

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