A University of Maryland graduate student in information management and community planning is among 102 recipients nationwide to earn the David L. Boren Fellowship to study critical languages overseas.
Alanna Leshea Anderson will receive $25,000 to travel to Brazil for a year to take intensive Brazilian Portuguese classes and live with a host family who will give her more practice and a better understanding of life and culture in the country. She plans to become proficient enough to pursue a sustainable development internship at a nonprofit.
“I’ll have the linguistic ability to reach a broader domestic and global audience than I’m currently capable of,” Anderson said. “My goal is to apply my knowledge from this award into a career in my passions: sustainable development and disaster management.”
The Boren Awards program by the National Security Education Program’s Institute of International Education grants undergraduate and graduate students with resources and support to develop language skills and experience in overseas locations important to the future security and stability of the United States. Recipients will work in the federal government for at least one year in exchange for funding. NSEP is a federal initiative and a component of the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO). Its goal is to increase the number of qualified U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills.
UMD students have earned 22 Boren fellowships in the past 10 years.
Since 1994, over 7,800 students have received Boren Awards and applied their skills to support the missions of federal government agencies. Dawn Jourdan, the dean of the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, is proud to have Anderson represent MAPP on a global scale.
“Alanna is committed to ensuring that language does not stand in the way of building resilient, inclusive communities,” she said. “We are so proud of her and this achievement.”