Fellowships, Internships and Scholarships

Boren Scholarship
Boren Scholarships provide American undergraduate students with the resources and encouragement they need to acquire skills and experiences in areas of the world critical to the future security of our nation, in exchange for their commitment to seek work in the federal government. For more information about the application process, click here.

Boren Fellowship
Boren Fellowships provide U.S. graduate students the opportunity to add an important international and language component to their graduate education through specialization in area study, language study, or increased language proficiency. Boren Fellowship awards are made for a minimum of 12 weeks and maximum of 24 months.  Boren Fellowships promote long term linguistic and cultural immersion.  Therefore, all overseas study must be a minimum of 12 weeks, and preference will be given to applicants proposing overseas programs of 6 months or longer. However, applicants proposing overseas programs of 3-6 months, especially those in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields are encouraged to apply. For more information about what makes a competitive application, click here. In exchange for fellowship funding, all Boren Fellows must agree to the NSEP Service Requirement.

The Language Flagship
The Language Flagship is a government funded program at 22 universities with instruction in the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish and Urdu. All Flagship programs also include cultural functions and events.  Find out more about the Language Flagship here.

English For Heritage Language Speakers
A program that helps professional-level native speakers of Arabic, Chinese, and other critical languages reach a similar level of proficiency in English in order to prepare them for positions in the Federal Government. For more information on the EHLS program please visit the EHLS website.

National Language Service Corps (NLSC)
A corps of on-call language-certified Americans who are ready to serve the nation with their language skills. Members voluntarily join this organization because of a strong desire to use their language expertise to help ensure the safety and security of the United States during a time of national emergency or crisis.  NLSC has recruited a corps of more than 2,200 members and another 550 applicants who collectively represent over 196 languages from around the world.  To learn more about the NLSC or to join this volunteer corps please visit the NLSC website for more information.

Project GO
Project GO (Global Officers), originally titled the ROTC Language and Culture Project, is a Department of Defense initiative aimed at improving the language skills, regional expertise, and intercultural communication skills of future military officers. The program involves the Army, Air Force, Navy ROTCs, and 18 U.S. institutions of higher education, including five of the six Senior Military Colleges. Project GO facilitates collaborative efforts among universities and between universities and ROTC leadership to provide funding for a total of 13 critical languages, including: Arabic (all dialects), Chinese (Mandarin), Hausa, Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Pashto, Persian (Dari, Farsi, Tajik), Russian, Swahili, Tatar, Turkish, Uzbek, and Wolof.  For More information about Project GO please visit the Project GO website.

Language Training Centers
Language Training Centers (LTC) are an initiative to develop expertise in critical languages, cultures and strategic regions for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) personnel.  The LTCs provide new opportunities to meet DoD total force language training needs, enabling the DoD workforce to be better prepared and equipped with the language, cultural and regional expertise necessary for foreign nation cooperation and operations.  Find out more here.

Additional Internship Opportunities

The Olmstead Scholarship Overseas Travel and Cultural Immersion Program (undergraduate)
The Olmsted Foundation sponsors Cadets and Midshipmen for travel to foreign countries every year. Fundamental policies of the program, participating institutions, and basic application procedures are described here.

The Olmstead Scholarship Scholar Program
Each year, the Olmsted Scholar Program offers educational grants for two years of graduate study in a foreign language and other educational experiences in a foreign country to competitively selected career line officers from the four branches of the U.S. military.  The Foundation has the goal of selecting the most highly qualified officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps annually, with the number of Scholars selected based on the Foundation's financial ability to support them and the available pool of qualified candidates. 

What do Olmsted Scholars do?

• Learn a foreign language fluently
• Experience a foreign culture in depth
• Study formal subjects broadly
• Earn a Masters Degree routinely
• Travel a foreign country and region extensively
• Meet foreign citizens continually
• Understand fully how others view the United States
• Prepare thoroughly to be effective and knowledgeable future leaders

Find out more here.

National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), US State Department  
NSLI-Y students learn less-commonly studied foreign languages through overseas summer and academic year programs. Previous language study is not required, and language learners of all levels are encouraged to apply.