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May 8, 2012 — New College of Florida students Nolan Bensen and Naushin Jiwani have each been awarded a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs for study in China this summer. New College earlier announced that student Ilene Gillispie will study Punjabi on a CLS to India.
This is the third consecutive year that students from New College have been awarded this top government grant. CLS participants study approximately one year’s worth of language study in seven to 10 weeks during the summer institutes.
Nolan Bensen is a third-year student from Orlando, Fla., studying political science as well as Chinese language and culture at New College. Bensen will study in Beijing and participate in weekly trips to historic Chinese sites. At New College, Bensen has been active with the Brain Bowl academic trivia team, helped coordinate the All Power to the Imagination Conference and will serve as president of New College’s China Club next year. Upon his return from China, Bensen plans to apply for a Fulbright fellowship as well as graduate school with the goal of pursuing a doctorate in international relations or history of East Asia.

Photo Credit: Barbara Banks

Naushin Jiwani is a fourth-year student from LaGrange, Ga., expected to graduate at the end of this month with a bachelor’s degree in international and area studies/economics. She has been studying Chinese for three years at New College and traveled to China on a National Science Foundation grant in 2010. Jiwani has elected to accept a fellowship with Teach for India in lieu of the Critical Language Scholarship. Teach for India Fellows are Indian citizens or recent graduates of Indian origin selected to teach for two years in low-income schools.
Ilene Gillispie is a fourth-year student at New College of Florida from Alexandria, Va., expected to graduate this May with a bachelor’s degree in religion. Gillispie studied in southern India at Madras University in spring 2011. She conducted research in northern India this past January for her senior thesis on the role of women in the Sikh religion. In Chandigarh, India, she will live with a host family and hopes to visit sites of historical importance to the Sikh religion. When she returns from India, Gillispie plans to enroll in graduate school and attend seminary in preparation for ministry in the Unitarian church. Read more>>
Aaron Phillips, a 2009 graduate of New College from Tampa, Fla., was also awarded a French Teaching Assistantship for the Aix-Marseille region.
The Critical Language Scholarship Program offers intensive summer institutes in 13 languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and Urdu. In 2012, 631 scholarships were awarded out of more than 5,200 applicants. The program is administered by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers and the American Councils for International Education.
For more information, contact the Office of Public Affairs at 941-487-4153 or [email protected].
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