FLAS

About FLAS Fellowships

The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships program provides allocations of academic year and summer fellowships to institutions of higher education or consortia of institutions of higher education to assist meritorious undergraduate students and graduate students undergoing training in modern foreign languages and related area or international studies or with the international aspects of professional or fields of study.

The goals of the fellowship program are:  

  • To assist in the development of knowledge, resources, and trained personnel for modern foreign language and area or international studies.
  • To foster foreign language acquisition and fluency.
  • To develop a domestic pool of international experts to meet national needs. 

The Center for Africana Studies is accepting applications for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Program Fellowships for Academic Year 2022-2023, and Summer 2022 in the following languages:  Amharic, Amharic, Chichewa, Igbo, Malagasy, Maninke, Sudanese Arabic, Swahili, Twi, Wolof, Yoruba, Zulu, or any African language federally identified among the Least Commonly-Taught Languages.

Eligibility:

  • Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
  • Must be admitted to or enrolled in a full-time undergraduate or graduate program of study
  • Must have research or career plans that require the use of an African language 
  • Must show potential for superior academic achievement based on academic record
  • Undergraduate and Graduate applicants must have a minimum of intermediate-level proficiency in the FLAS language in which you are applying by the beginning of the fellowship
  • Graduate applicants at the beginner-level of a language may apply for a FLAS fellowship if they have reached a higher level of proficiency in a similar language to the one applied for with the fellowship

Academic Year Fellowship:

 

(2022-2023 fellowship applications will be accepted pending funding from the US Department of Education)

  • An AY fellowship may be used to enroll in a domestic or an overseas program of study.
  • An AY fellowship may be used to enroll in a domestic or an overseas program of study.
  • AY courses, whether taken at the home institution or at an overseas institution, or both, must be in compliance with the student’s home institution area studies and language training requirements, in addition to meeting the FLAS program requirements.
  • AY courses work supported by a FLAS fellowship must include at least one language course and one area studies course during each academic quarter, semester, or trimester.
  • AY fellowship for dissertation research. Dissertation FLAS fellowships must be used to conduct research abroad. Only students at the advanced level of the language are eligible to receive an AY fellowship to conduct dissertation research.
  • Using the language in conducting the dissertation research project must provide the FLAS fellow the intensive training that a full academic year of formal classroom instruction would provide.
  • AY graduate student FLAS fellows will receive $18,000 toward tuition and a $20,000 stipend
  • Undergraduate FLAS fellows will receive $10,000 toward tuition and a $5,000 stipend
  • The deadline for the academic year 2022-2023 FLAS fellowship is February 7, 2022.

Summer FLAS Fellowship:

  • Summer fellowship is awarded only for intensive language study.
  • A summer fellowship could be used at a domestic program, an overseas program, or both.
  • A summer session (domestic or overseas) qualifies as an intensive language program if 1) it is at least six weeks in duration and offers at least 120 contact hours of instruction for students at the advanced level, or 2) it is at least six weeks in duration and offers at least 140 contact hours for students at the beginning or intermediate level of the language.
  • Both undergraduate and graduate students will receive up to $5,000 toward tuition and a stipend of $2,500
  • The deadline for the summer 2022 FLAS Fellowship is February 7, 2022.

 

For more information: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/flas/

For questions about African language study, contact Dr. Ali Dinar at aadinar@sas.upenn.edu.