Skip to main content
Connecticut College
  • About Connecticut College
  • Academics
  • Admission & Financial Aid
  • Alumni & Life After Conn
  • Athletics
  • Campus & Community
  • Career Preparation
  • Human Resources
  • Student Experience
  • Calendar
  • News
  • Directory
  • Employment
  • Libraries & Technology
  • CC Magazine
  • Site Map
Make a gift CamelWeb Today at Conn

Specialized Resources

  • Accessibility Services
  • Admission Deadlines
  • Admitted Students
  • Admitted Student Statistics
  • Arboretum
  • Arts and Culture
  • Bookshop
  • Campus Map
  • Clubs and Activities
  • Counseling Services
  • Directions to Campus
  • Essays That Worked
  • Financial Aid Services
  • Health Services
  • International Students
  • Interviewing
  • Libraries
  • Orientation
  • Request Information
  • Residential Life
  • Majors and Minors
  • Student Blog
  • Sustainability
  • Technology Services
  • Title IX: Sexual Respect
  • Transfer Students
  • Tuition and Fees
  • Transportation
  • Visit Campus
  • Academic Advising
  • Academic Calendar
  • Academic Resource Center
  • Arboretum
  • Arts and Culture
  • Camel Card Office
  • Campus Safety
  • Campus Map
  • Career Services
  • Class Schedules
  • Clubs and Student Engagement
  • Connections
  • Counseling Services
  • Course Catalog
  • Equity and Inclusion
  • Environmental Health & Safety
  • Global Focus
  • Health Services
  • Libraries
  • Residential Life
  • Sustainability
  • Technology Services
  • Title IX: Sexual Respect
  • Transportation
  • Academic Advising
  • Academic Calendar
  • Arboretum
  • Arts and Culture
  • Banner Self-Service
  • Camel Card Office
  • Campus Map
  • Campus Safety
  • Center for Teaching & Learning
  • Course Catalog
  • Course Information and Schedules
  • Equity and Inclusion
  • Employee Benefits
  • Environmental Health & Safety
  • Facilities Management
  • Human Resources
  • Instructional Technology
  • Libraries
  • Moodle
  • Sustainability
  • Technology Services
  • Title IX: Sexual Respect
  • Wellness Program
  • Academic Calendar
  • Academic Resource Center
  • Alcohol and Drug Education
  • Arboretum
  • Arts & Culture
  • Athletics Calendar
  • Bookshop
  • Camel Card Office
  • Campus Map
  • Campus Safety
  • Career Services
  • CARE Team
  • Commencement
  • Counseling Services
  • Equity and Inclusion
  • Fall Weekend
  • Applying for Financial Aid
  • First-Year Student FAQ
  • Global Focus
  • Health Services
  • Libraries
  • Orientation
  • Parent enewsletter
  • Parents Council
  • Residential Life
  • Resources for Parents and Families
  • Student Employment
  • Tuition and Fees
  • Visiting New London

 

  • Area Attractions & Events
  • Area Hotels
  • Arboretum
  • Arts and Culture
  • Bookshop
  • Campus Map
  • Campus Safety
  • The Children's Program
  • Community Learning/Volunteering
  • Directions
  • Events and Catering
  • Equity and Inclusion
  • Reserving Harkness Chapel
  • Local Restaurants and Dining
  • OnStage Performances
  • Transportation
  • Alumni Directory
  • Alumni Events
  • Alumni Association
  • Arts and Culture
  • Bookshop
  • Campus Map
  • Fall Weekend
  • Global Focus
  • Libraries
  • Library Databases
  • Notable Alumni
  • Email Help
  • Replacement Diploma
  • Reunion
  • Sponsor an Internship
  • Support the College
  • Title IX: Sexual Respect
  • Transcripts
  • Update Your Info
  • Volunteer
  • Post a job or internship
  • Explore employment programs
  • Learn about funded internships
  • Home 
  • Home 
  • News 
  • News Archive 
  • 2020 
  • Critical Language Scholarships

Students win prestigious national scholarships for language

Grace Kovic ’21
Grace Kovic ’21

When Grace Kovic ’21 decided to explore a class in Chinese during her first year of high school, she immediately sparked a new passion. 

Now, Kovic, a math major minoring in Chinese, is one of several Conn students who have recently received prestigious national awards and scholarships to study critical languages abroad.  

Kovic was awarded a Boren scholarship to spend the summer studying in Beijing, something she has been eager to do for years.  

“I have wanted to become fluent in Chinese for some time, and I knew that immersing myself in the language in China would be an essential step towards that goal,” Kovic said. 

The Boren Awards—named after former U.S. Senator David Boren, helps promote his decades-long commitment to providing opportunities for students to learn critical languages and to expand cultural awareness through funding of global educational exchanges. 

The scholarship provides up to $8,000 for students majoring in STEM fields to study a language abroad for a minimum of eight weeks. 

“I’m incredibly grateful to have been awarded this scholarship,” added Kovic, who explained she’d be participating in a study abroad program next summer after it was postponed due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

A service-oriented award, all Boren recipients are required to work in the U.S. government for at least one year. Kovic said she’s interested in using that time to apply her math and language skills as a data analyst for a government agency. 

A portrait of Hillary Tun '21
Hillary Tun ’21

Kovic’s fellow rising senior Hillary Tun ’21 has also recently received a scholarship to study Chinese: the Gilman Critical Need Language Award, along with a Fund for Education Scholarship (FEA)—an honor awarded to only 41 students out of more than 1,800 applicants from 470 colleges and universities across the U.S. 

 A Posse scholar from Chicago and a scholar in Conn’s Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts who is majoring in history and minoring in Chinese, Tun says her dedicated advisers at Conn have helped shape her path, particularly her growth as a language student.  

“My language journey at Conn is a highlight of my college experience,” Tun said. “I have made lifelong friends from around the world and meaningful connections through Chinese language study.”

In addition to the highly competitive Gilman and FEA scholarships, Tun is also the recipient of Conn’s newly established Chu-Kuo Fellowship for Chinese Language Study.  

The fellowship was established to honor the legacies of two beloved emeritus Conn professors; Charles Chu and Henry T.K. Kuo, both of whom taught Chinese at the College. It provides $5,000 for one student each year to study Chinese during either the summer or winter breaks.  

A portrait of Dashiell Hunter ’22
Dashiell Hunter ’22

Another Gilman scholarship recipient, Dashiell Hunter ’22, has also been awarded a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study Arabic. 

Hunter, a philosophy and international relations double major who is minoring in Arabic, was scheduled to study this summer in Amman Jordan, but the program was cancelled onsite due to COVID-19. He hopes the program will still occur remotely, led by professors from the University of Jordan. And with funding provided from the Gilman Award, Hunter plans to study in Rabat, Morocco, next summer. He is particularly interested in finding ways to increase voter access for Moroccan women.   

“I am really honored to have received the State Department Critical Language and Gilman Scholarships,” Hunter said. “I think this pandemic highlights how interdependent we all are, and how critically important an understanding of foreign languages and cultures such as Arabic will be in terms of obtaining a global resolution, such as a vaccine,” he added.

Funded by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, CLS scholarships are highly selective and cover the costs, including travel, room and board, to study abroad for up to 10 weeks in an intensive language program.



Put the world together in new ways. Learn more



June 1, 2020

Related News & Media

Recent News

Conn wins Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess division championship

Conn wins Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess division championship

Student News

Mission: Possible

Mission: Possible

Connecticut College
270 Mohegan Avenue
New London, CT 06320
1 (860) 447-1911
admission@conncoll.edu
Web Privacy Policy
Web Accessibility Notice

Website Navigation

  • About Connecticut College
  • Academics
  • Admission & Financial Aid
  • Alumni & Life After Conn
  • Athletics
  • Campus & Community
  • Career Preparation
  • Human Resources
  • Student Experience
Make a gift CamelWeb Today at Conn
  • Calendar
  • News
  • Directory
  • Employment
  • Libraries & Technology
  • CC Magazine
  • Site Map
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn