Six OU Students Awarded Critical Language Scholarships

We're excited to announce that six University of Oklahoma students were awarded the U.S. Department of State’s prestigious Critical Language Scholarship for summer 2021. The CLS program was founded as part of a government effort to promote the study of foreign languages designated “critical” — those that are underrepresented but play an important role in national security and the world economy. In typical years, students selected for the summer program enjoy two fully funded months of language and cultural immersion in a city where their chosen language is spoken. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the program has moved to a virtual format for the summer 2021 language institutes. CLS draws students from a wide range of fields and interests, and participants are selected based on commitment to language learning and plans to apply language skills to their future academic or professional pursuits.

From left: Conor McMahon, Aubrey Rottschaefer, Elijah Salie, Jonathon Tvaryanas, Miguel A. Vazquez. Not pictured: Nathaniel Buxton.

The Recipients:

• Nathaniel Buxton, a junior from Oklahoma City majoring in letters-constitutional studies and Russian, was accepted to study Russian.

• Conor McMahon, a doctoral student in comparative philosophy from Buffalo, New York, was accepted to study Chinese (Mandarin) through Dailan University of Technology.

• Aubrey Rottschaefer, a senior from Tulsa, Oklahoma majoring in biology, was accepted to study Urdu through the American Institute of Indian Studies, Lucknow.

• Elijah Salie, a sophomore from Lindsay, Oklahoma majoring in political science and Chinese, was accepted to study Chinese (Mandarin) through the College of Humanities and Sciences of Northeast Normal University, Changchun.

• Jonathon Tvaryanas, a sophomore from Oklahoma City majoring in international security studies, was accepted to study Russian through Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod.

• Miguel A. Vazquez, a senior from Matatmoros, Mexico majoring in international security studies and Arabic, was accepted to study Turkish through TÖMER Institute, Ankara.

For more information about the Critical Language Scholarship, visit https://www.clscholarship.org or contact OU's CLS adviser Monica Goodwin.