UT students Brooklyn Battle and Ryan White have received prestigious David L. Boren Scholarships to study abroad.
The Boren Scholarships are awarded by the Institute of International Education on behalf of the National Security Education Program. The awards provide students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to the future security and stability of the US. In exchange for funding, Boren Award recipients agree to work in the federal government for at least a year.
“I’m thrilled for Brooklyn and Ryan and the extraordinary experiences they have ahead of them,” said Andrew Seidler, director of UT’s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships. “Being named Boren Scholars is a great credit to these students, to their faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, and to UT.”
Battle, of Knoxville, a senior who will graduate in May 2020, is majoring in modern foreign languages and literatures with a concentration in international business and Chinese and a minor in Asian studies. She will be studying Mandarin at the National Taiwan Normal University for six months. She leaves in late May.
“After completing the Boren, I plan to fulfill the service requirement by working for an intelligence agency,” she said. “I am excited for this experience to improve my Mandarin language competency and better understand the geopolitical relationship among Taiwan, the United States, and China.”
Battle aspires to a career as an economic analyst or an intelligence collection analyst at the CIA.
White, of Maryville, Tennessee, who will graduate in December 2020, is double majoring in Russian studies and political science with a concentration in international affairs.
“I am traveling to the Republic of Belarus, where I will study the Russian language and immerse myself in Belarusian culture,” he said.“This award has offered me the opportunity to further pursue my personal and professional goal of fluency in Russian.”
White will begin his program August 1.
A third student, Nicholas Buttram, a senior majoring in modern foreign languages and literatures with a concentration in international business and Japanese, is an alternate and could be awarded a Boren Scholarship at a later date.
This year, 244 scholarships were awarded to undergraduates and 106 fellowships were awarded to graduate students.
UT students interested in the Boren or other national scholarships and fellowships can visit the ONSF website and meet with ONSF staff to learn more about the application process.
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CONTACT:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)
Andrew Seidler, UT Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships (865-974-3518, aseidler@utk.edu)