Program
promotes U.S. understanding
By Akiko Sugimori
On-line Forty-Niner
For
the first time, a prestigious undergraduate
scholarship was awarded to a Cal State Long
Beach student.
The National Security Education Program
David L. Boren Undergraduate Scholarship
was awarded to Colin Rasmussen.
Rasmussen, an undergraduate student double
majoring in international studies and Asian
studies, will undertake a year of study
at Rajasthan University in India.
“I am going to India this August, and school
starts in September,” Rasmussen said. “I
am excited to learn a new language: Hindi,
and their culture, also to work as a member
of a Non Government Organization.”
According to Linda Olson Levy, special programs
coordinator of the International Education
Center, the scholarships are funded by the
U.S. government. They are designed to provide
American undergraduates with the resources
and experiences in different countries and
areas of the world critical to assisting
the U.S. in acquiring international competence
necessary to communicate effectively across
boarders, understand other perspectives
and analyze increasingly fluid economic
and political realities.
“After 9/11, we got a magnitude of the lack
of language abilities and inexperience with
other countries,” Levy said. “There are
more cases now that really needed for our
nation to learn about other countries, especially
about non-traditional cultures and non-traditional
languages.
“Long Beach is an international city, CSULB
has a lot of international students, and
a multicultural society as well as the state
of California in general,” Levy continued.
“I believe that Colin’s experience and knowledge
will enrich our campus and our communities.”
The program was established by the National
Security Education Act of 1991, which created
the National Security Education Board, the
National Security Education Program and
a trust fund in the U.S. Treasury to provide
resources for scholarships, fellowships
and grants. It is guided by a mission that
seeks to educate U.S. citizens, understand
foreign cultures, strengthen U.S. economic
competitiveness and enhance international
cooperation and security.
The program’s missions include: giving Americans
knowledge of less commonly taught languages;
recruiting future leaders who have worked
alongside foreign experts; to develop a
cadre of professionals who can use their
knowledge of foreign issues to help the
United States deal effectively with global
issues; to enhance institutional capacity
and increase the number of faculty who can
educate U.S. citizens toward achieving these
goals.
Prerequisites to apply include: being a
U.S. citizen at the time of application,
matriculated as a freshman, sophomore, junior,
or senior in a U.S. post-secondary institution,
recognized by the U.S. Department of Education;
applying to engage in a study abroad experience
that meets home institution standards; and
planning to use the scholarship for study
abroad and the study abroad program ends
before graduation.
For more information about the program,
log on www.iie.org/nsep.
The deadline to apply is February 2004.
Applications for the next round of scholarships
will be available this summer at the office
of Center for International Education.
|
