MURFREESBORO — Two
MTSU scholars will depart soon for far-flung regions of the globe after winning
prestigious financial stipends.
Bonnie Walker and Ethan McHugh are among more than 500
students at United States colleges and universities who were awarded 2017 Critical
Language Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State.
The mission of the scholarship program is “to expand the
number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages,”
according to the department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which
administers the program.
Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian,
Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish and Urdu are
considered “critical languages” under the program. The bureau defines “critical
languages” as “those that are less commonly taught in U.S. schools, but are
essential for America’s engagement with the world.”
Walker, an Oak Ridge, Tennessee, native who graduated May 6
with a bachelor’s degree in international relations, will depart June 14 for a
two-month stay in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan to study the Turkish
language.
“During my sophomore year of college, I spent 10 months in
Turkey teaching,” said Walker. “I developed many close friendships with my
neighbors and truly enjoyed my time there. The people are so incredibly
welcoming, hospitable and friendly.”
Azerbaijan, which shares an 8-kilometer border with Turkey,
is an ethnically Turkic nation that has good diplomatic relations with its
neighbor to the west. As the only Muslim-majority member of the North American
Treaty Organization, Turkey is strategically important to the U.S. in fighting
terrorism.
“I plan on taking the foreign service exam in December,”
said Walker. “I would like to be in the foreign service and work in Turkish-U.S.
relations. I am also interested in graduate school or law school and continuing
my knowledge of Turkish after the CLS program.”
McHugh, a double major in philosophy and religious studies
from Franklin, Tennessee, is slated to take off May 30 for Oman to study Arabic
for two months.
“I initially began studying Arabic because I wanted to go to
graduate school to study religion, and I wanted to have the option of studying
religion in the Middle East,” said McHugh.
Studying Arabic is essential for McHugh’s future plans
because he intends to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship to fund a position as
an English teaching assistant in Bahrain before proceeding to graduate school.
“Ultimately, I hope to be involved in education reform and
the improvement of accessibility for the study of Arabic and other critical
language at the secondary and university levels,” said McHugh.
The Sultanate of Oman shares borders on the Arabian
Peninsula with Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Its position
on the Arabian Sea and proximity to Iran and Pakistan also makes it
strategically important to the U.S.
To learn more about MTSU educational opportunities in other
countries, contact the Office of International Affairs at 615-898-2116 or http://www.mtsu.edu/intered/index.php.
For more information about Critical Language Scholarships,
go to www.clscholarship.org.
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