2022 Scholarships & Awards

Phoebe Diehl studies Chemistry at Arizona State University. She studied Chinese in the Indiana University Language Workshop in support of her career goal of working in the field of international renewable energy. Phoebe notes that China is a leader in manufacturing materials to support renewable energy projects around the world. Before attending the Workshop, she interned at Gigawatt Global, a Dutch company based in Israel building solar fields in African countries using Chinese components, an experience that solidified her interest in pursuing a career in international science diplomacy, and contributed to her decision to join the Chinese Language Flagship Program.

Miceala Fenn studies International Studies and Middle Eastern Studies in Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. In support of her goal to join the U.S. Foreign Service, she has joined the Hamilton Lugar Living Learning Community, where she has been an active participant in intercultural dialog and career planning workshops and seminars. She has also joined the highly competitive Indiana University Arabic Flagship Program, where she is taking full advantage of the language and culture training opportunities as she prepares for a career in diplomacy.

Hasti Aryana Rostami is a quadruple major at the University of Texas, Austin, studying International Relations and Global Studies, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, History, and Middle Eastern Studies in the Honors Program. She aspires to become a professor of law and a practicing international human rights attorney. Her academic interests center around on displacement and conflict in regards to ethnic minorities and the refugee population of the Middle East and North Africa. Her legal interests revolve around helping refugees and asylum seekers navigate the U.S. legal system. As a volunteer for the Refugee Student Mentor Program at UT and an intern for the International Rescue Committee, she recognized a need to be conversant with Sorani Kurdish, the first language of many of the people she serves. Learning Kurdish at the Workshop also facilitates Hasti’s academic work on the history of the Kurdish resistance in Iran.

Administered by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the Title VIII program promotes regional expertise at the national level by funding graduate students to study the languages of Eastern Europe and the states of the former Soviet Union.

• Azerbaijani
  • Thomas Abbey, North Dakota State University
  • Ellie Scheaffer, Oklahoma State University
  • Gregory Xanthos, American Councils for International Education

• Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian
  • Bridget Fleming, University of Rochester
  • Jacob Smiley, University of California Berkeley
  • Nikolina Zenovic, Indiana University

• Hungarian
  • Patrick Leech, Baylor University

• Kyrgyz
  • Matthew Hulstine, Indiana University
  • John Shekitka, Manhattanville College

• Lithuanian
  • Ramutis Kiparskis, Critical Resource Science Company 

• Polish
  • John Di Lascio, President Lincoln's Cottage
  • Michael Kowalchuk, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Julia Moore, Eastern Michigan University 

• Russian
  • Alex Bogisich, Indiana University
  • Ryan Letourneau, Indiana University
  • Samantha Sharp, Binghamton University
  • Nicholas Williams, Indiana University
  • Casey Edgarian, Indiana University
  • John Lovinggood, George Washington University
  • Margaret Stafford, University of Arizona
  • Mark Thomas-Patterson, George Washington University
  • Karann Putrevu, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Joseph Sailor, Georgetown University
  • Yakov Shatalov, Ohio State University

• Tatar
  • Abigail Gipson, Harvard University
  • Jacob Springer, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• Ukrainian
  • Chelsey Carr, University of Texas at Austin
  • Mason Conley, Indiana University
  • Colby Fleming, University of Illinois Chicago
  • Rachel Kelly, Indiana University
  • Zachary Rewinski, Colorado State University
  • Gabriele Sava, humanID

• Uzbek
  • Zayra Badillo-Castro, School of Oriental and African Studies (London)
  • Alexandra Dennett, Harvard University

Project 'Global Officer' improves the language skills, regional expertise, and intercultural communication skills of future military officers by providing scholarships for summer language training to ROTC students. The 2022 Project GO scholars were: 

• Arabic
  • Brendan Bondy, Indiana University

• Chinese in Indiana
  • Allen Antonio, University of San Diego
  • Emily Gillis, Emily Gillis
  • Allen Moy, Marquette University
  • Lia Zimmerman, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 

• Chinese in Taiwan
  • Brandon Clark, University of North Georgia
  • Jaden Davidson, University of North Georgia
  • Megan Ding, University of Chicago
  • David Fu, University of Maryland-College Park
  • Eytan Goldstein, Harvard University
  • Harry Green, Harvard University
  • Derrick Hsieh, Purdue University-Main Campus
  • Anders Johnson, Stony Brook University
  • Doreen Liu, University of California-Los Angeles
  • Chia Yu Lu, University of Washington-Seattle Campus
  • Justin Moree, Liberty University
  • Christopher Sell, Iowa State University
  • Xaxa Smith, Georgetown University
  • Joshua Sun, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Robert Velte, Purdue University-Main Campus
  • Alexander Wimmer, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 

• Russian
  • Nathaniel Bampton, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
  • Liam Hambel, Los Angeles Mission College
  • Maxwell Johnson, Yale University
  • Katherine Orr, University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus
  • Brian Sacco, Wilkes University
  • Claire Hellman, University of Iowa
  • Declan Miller, North Carolina State University at Raleigh

Foreign Language and Area Studies Awards are funded by the United States Department of Education in support of students studying less commonly taught languages, in particular, those considered to be of critical interest to the United States. FLAS Awards promote the training of students who plan to make their careers in fields where knowledge of foreign languages and cultures is a prerequisite to success.

The 2022 Workshop's FLAS Awardees were (by their sponsoring programs):

• Center for Study of Middle East
  • Malachi Aklilu (Arabic), Covenant Christian High School
  • Daniel Allen (Arabic), Indiana University
  • Ibrahim Alubaidi (Arabic), Indiana University
  • Charles Collins (Arabic), Indiana University
  • Taylor Issa (Arabic), Indiana University
  • Claire Jacobson (Arabic), Indiana University
  • Muhamed, Ahmed (Turkish), Indiana University
  • Jason Sadlowski (Arabic), Indiana University 

• Inner Asian & Uralic National Resource Center
  • Jack Rosswurm (Estonian), Indiana University

• Russian & East European Institute
  • Sam James Bowden (Russian), Kenyon College
  • Ian Andrew Cameron (Russian), Southeast Missouri State University
  • Elizabeth Smith (Russian), Indiana University
  • Allison Lindsay Wadsworth (Russian), Indiana University

"The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies provides scholarships for students studying Estonian, Latvian, or Lithuanian in BALSSI, the Baltic Studies Summer Institute, which was part of the Language Workshop in 2022.

The AABS Scholarship for was awarded to Sabina Carbajal, an independent scholar who graduated with honors from McMaster University with majors in Anthropology & Psychology and in Neuroscience and Behavior. Sabina plans to use her Lithuanian skills to conduct public health research in Lithuania.

The HLS Scholarships are funded in part by alumni and supporters of the Workshop. Meet this year's HLS Scholarship recipients.

• Arabic
  • Daniel Allan, Indiana University
  • Mackenzie Campbell, University of Chicago
  • Madeleine Shaw, Dartmouth College

• Chinese
  • Aysia Bittinger, University of North Georgia
  • Zion Person, Western Kentucky University
  • Valerie Soto, Wofford College

• Mongolian
  • Dylan Charter, Swarthmore College

• Zapotec
  • Candy Martinez, University of California Santa Cruz

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 student awards for Outstanding Academic Achievement. (Multiple winners in a language reflect multiple levels and multiple sections in that language.)

• Arabic
  • Madeleine Shaw (Arabic 1)
  • Becca Bruss (Arabic 2)
  • William Rodenbeck (Arabic 2)
  • Elmira Takhsha Qahfarokhi (Arabic 3)
  • Mackenzie Campbell (Arabic 5)

• Azerbaijani
  • Katie Pekarek

• Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian
  • Albert Jovic

• Chinese
  • Maeve Randall (Chinese 1)
  • Zachary Fiske (Chinese 2)
  • Emma Fecteau (Chinese 2)
  • Elana Ho (Chinese 2)
  • Emery Stafford (Chinese 2)
  • Autumn Sniffen (Chinese 3)
  • Serena White (Chinese 3)
  • Bronson Soza (Chinese 4) 

• Estonian
  • Jack Rosswurm

• Finnish
  • Jonas Fos

• Hungarian
  • Samuel Day

• Japanese
  • David Wang

• Korean
  • Kate Valete (Korean 1)
  • Peyton Clevenger (Korean 2)

• Kurdish
  • Hasti Aryana Rostami

• Kyrgyz
  • Matthew Hulstine 

• Lithuanian
  • Sabina Carbajal

• Mongolian
  • Christopher DeCou

• Pashto
  • Sepehr Sepahrom

• Persian
  • Gilad BenDavid (Persian 1)
  • Sachin Talagery (Persian 2)

• Polish
  • John Di Lascio

• Russian
  • Liam Hambell (Russian 1)
  • Alexander Ake (Russian 2)
  • Ian Cameron (Russian 2)
  • Larissa Foley (Russian 3)
  • Clara Martinez Zuviria (Russian 4)
  • Liu Peng (Russian 5)
  • Collin Hamkins (Russian 6) 

• Swahili
  • Ling Sun

• Tatar
  • Jacob Springer 

• Turkish
  • Andy Smith (Turkish 1)
  • Andi Sun (Turkish 2) 

• Ukrainian
  • Zach Rewinski 

• Uzbek
  • Alexandra Dennett

• Vietnamese
  • Emily Jackson

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 student awards for Greatest Improvement in Language Proficiency. (Multiple winners in a language reflect multiple levels and multiple sections in that language.)

• Arabic
  • Lilly Reising (Arabic 1)
  • Jason Sadlowski (Arabic 2)
  • Allie Jewell (Arabic 2)
  • Daniel Allan (Arabic 3) 
  • Claire Jacobson (Arabic 5) 

• Azerbaijani
  • Gregory Xanthos

• Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian
  • Bridget Fleming

• Chinese
  • Emily Gillis (Chinese 2)
  • Samuel Syroney (Chinese 2)
  • Edward Woolery (Chinese 2)
  • Brockman Beli (Chinese 2)
  • Jasmine Gipson (Chinese 3)
  • Valerie Soto (Chinese 3)
  • Claire Hayes (Chinese 4)

• Finnish
  • Gehrid Hensley

• Japanese
  • Colin Kremus

• Korean
  • Dereka Thomas (Korean 1)
  • Angel Truong (Korean 2)

• Mongolian
  • Dylan Charter

• Persian
  • Richard Ellis (Persian 1)

• Polish
  • Michael Kowalchuk 

• Russian
  • Grace Peconge (Russian 1)
  • Savannah Odom (Russian 2)
  • Zoe Koeninger (Russian 2)
  • Samatha Sharp (Russian 3)
  • John Lovinggood (Russian 4)
  • Anna Nuttle (Russian 5) 

• Swahili
  • Sarah Lewinger 

• Tatar
  • Abigail Gipson 

• Turkish
  • Daniel Neep (Turkish 1)
  • Nora Bairamian (Turkish 2)

• Uzbek
  • Sarah Borden

• Vietnamese
  • Damon Pham