Grant Smith and Samantha Giudice, seniors at the U of A, will continue their studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University as recipients of the U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies' Fellowship Program.

Smith is a double major in international and global studies with a concentration in peace, security and human rights and in Asian studies, with a minor in Chinese. His honors thesis focused on the Taiwan Strait conflict. He was awarded an FLAS Fellowship for Chinese and will enroll in intensive Chinese language courses and Asian studies courses while at George Washington University.

Smith said, "I really see learning language as critical for the future of America; in the past you were just taught to know English, but with the world getting smaller every day with technology, I see it as vital. I chose Chinese just because I enjoy the culture and the history behind it and its uniqueness from English. I wanted to continue studying it."

He added, "I looked for a graduate school that prioritizes language learning, and this one did. The scholarship just provided the best of both worlds because the requirements for having it were exactly what I wanted to do: I wanted to learn Chinese, and I wanted to take Asian Studies classes, so it seemed like perfect for me."

Giudice is also a double major in international and global studies with a concentration in peace, security and human rights and in Asian studies. As part of her Asian studies major and honors thesis, she studied abroad in Seoul, South Korea, for a year and focused her thesis research on the commodification of Korean culture through social media. She also participated in Model United Nations in New York and represented the People's Republic of China and South Korea. She was awarded an FLAS Fellowship for Korean and will be taking one Korean language course and one Korean area studies course each semester.

Giudice noted, "This requirement will ensure my understanding of Korean language and culture in a higher academic setting. The combination of studying at The George Washington University with the FLAS will enable me a good segue into internationally based careers." She said, "The biggest thing the FLAS will give me is the ability to go to graduate school debt-free at a top-tier university, which is something hard to come by nowadays."

Smith and Giudice received the highly competitive FLAS award, which is given out to people pursuing a disciplinary program within an international studies focus and learning one of the targeted languages: Arabic, Mandarin, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Persian and Turkish. Smith added that his degree in international and global studies and Asian studies really set him up to succeed: "Utilize the knowledge you learn in your undergraduate, and you will be able to set yourself apart for the scholarships that are out there. You just need to find them.

"I didn't realize how beneficial my undergraduate degree would be for providing me with this opportunity. I am appreciative to the University of Arkansas; they taught me well, and they showed me how to succeed," Smith said.

FLAS Fellowships support undergraduate, graduate and professional students in acquiring modern foreign languages and area or international studies competencies. The fellowship provides a $20,000 living stipend and covers 20 credits of tuition. Awardees are chosen by a committee on a competitive basis from eligible applicants based on their academic performance, the relevance of language study to their academic programs, their career and professional goals, and their demonstrated ability in foreign language study.

More information on the FLAS Fellowship can be found on the U.S. Department of Education website Foreign Language and Area Studies Program. For more information on the International and Global Studies Program, contact Director Ka Zeng at kzeng@uark.edu or Associate Director Kelly Hammond at kah018@uark.edu.