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Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowships for Graduate Students (FLAS)

Guidelines and eligibility

SOUTH ASIA FOREIGN LANGUAGE
AREA STUDIES (FLAS) FELLOWSHIPS
2008 Summer and 2008-2009 Academic Year
APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 29, 2008

Academic Year Foreign Language Area Studies awards are made to
students enrolled in graduate degree programs at Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, or North Carolina State University for the term of the award for:

    1. A formal academic program of full-time study during the academic year, in the
      United States or abroad;
    2. Dissertation research abroad during the academic year.

Please note: Only students who possess sufficient foreign language skills to carry out
the dissertation research can be approved for FLAS dissertation awards. Therefore,
only students who are at the advanced level of language proficiency can be approved
by IEGPS to use a FLAS for dissertation research. The use of language in dissertation research must be extensive enough to consider the foreign language improvement facilitated by the research equal to the improvement that would be obtained from
a full academic year’s worth of formal classroom instruction. Students wishing to use
an award for a formal study abroad program must be at the intermediate or advanced level of language proficiency, or at the beginning level if an appropriate beginning language program in the student’s language is not available in the United States.  
 
Summer FLAS awards are made to students who are enrolled in graduate degree programs at Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, or North Carolina State University who are seeking summer intensive language study in a FLAS-approved program located in the U.S. or abroad. Summer FLAS fellowships support students enrolled in:

    1. formal domestic programs of intensive language study at the beginning, intermediate or advanced level; or
    2. formal overseas programs of intensive language study at the intermediate or
      advanced level; or
    3. formal overseas programs of intensive study at the beginning level of languages
      for which appropriate equivalent instruction is not available in the United States

Please note: For the purposes of this program, “intensive” summer language programs
are those which offer a minimum of 120 contact hours of advanced-level language instruction and 140 contact hours of beginning- or intermediate-level instruction.  In order to be considered intensive, summer language programs should generally last a minimum of 6 weeks; longer programs are preferable because they are more likely to provide the student with the equivalent of a full year of language study.

Languages currently approved for funding

-Bengali          -Hindi         -Nepali         -Persian         -Tamil         -Urdu

 

Eligibility and stipulations

Please note: Summer FLAS does not count against total FLAS eligibility.

Additional note: The U.S. Department of Education Title VI Program (funding agency
for FLAS) requires that the FLAS application process be available to graduate students
in all disciplines of the three campuses of the NC Center for South Asia Studies. We are also encouraged to fund students broadly across disciplines and departments. The FLAS Committee will evaluate applications on the merit of language study need, rather than departmental requirements for language study. Considering the number of qualified applicants with justifiable need for language acquisition, applicants are encouraged to consider FLAS as potential funding for two years of language study, with a long-term
plan for other sources of funding.

Application requisites

Award amounts

Selection and ranking

The North Carolina Center for South Asia Studies is a National Resource Center for
South Asia and an interdisciplinary educational cooperative, not a teaching department, and promotes the study of South Asia across its three principal campuses, Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University, as well as on its two affiliate campuses, Fayetteville State University and North Carolina Central University.  With the exception of the eligibility stipulations above, there is no priority study discipline for FLAS Fellowships. The FLAS Committee reviews all applicants from any discipline and makes rankings based on the materials of the application.

This is an annual competition. The following application materials will be given equal weight:

Selection is "language blind." It is based on the quality of an applicant's overall record (including undergraduate and graduate student performance and GRE scores), the applicant's application form, the applicant's statement of purpose (with emphasis on the need for language study), and letters of recommendation.

A student's financial situation is not an allowable consideration, nor are varying tuition rates at various campuses.

Lowest consideration in the selection of fellows is given to students who already
possess language fluency equivalent to educated native speakers in the language for which the award is sought, including dissertators; and students who are applying for dissertation research or writing as opposed to students applying for language
acquisition.

FLAS rankings are private information and are not posted or conveyed in any way as public information. To protect applicant privacy, an individual may inquire from the
FLAS Coordinator as to his or her rank, but will not be given additional information such as total number of applicants or the rank of any other individual. The FLAS coordinator may be able to give a general idea as to the competitiveness of an annual competition and the likeliness of an award to an individual applicant who requests that information.

Due to the alternative funds available for fieldwork, academic year FLAS awards will not be available for research in the first year of dissertator status. FLAS awards will be for "write-up" use when the student is at the dissertation stage. Note that the U.S. Department of Education Title VI Program discourages centers from making awards to dissertators.

Submit completed application [download here], with CV, statement of intended
course of study, transcripts, letters of reference, etc., to:

Duke:                                                                     
FLAS Fellowship Application                                        
c/o Sandria Freitag                                                       
Center for South Asia Studies                                       
Duke University                                                             
109 Franklin Center   Box 90402                                   
Durham, North Carolina 27708-0402                           
(919) 668.2146  fax: (919) 684.8749                                         

UNC:
FLAS Fellowship Application                                      
c/o Peter Landstrom, Admin. Manager
FedEx Global Education Center
291 Pittsboro St.   CB# 7582
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC  27599-7582
(919) 843-0129  fax: (919) 843-2102

NC State:
FLAS Fellowship Application
c/o David Gilmartin
Department of History
Box 8108
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina   27695-8108
Phone: 919-513-2243  Fax: 919-515-3886

APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 29, 2008