African Studies - FLAS / Grant Opporunitites

FLAS

The African Studies Program offers FLAS fellowships through its Title VI National Resource Center grant from the U.S. Department of Education. These fellowships support the study of approved foreign languages and related area studies course work in preparation for careers in teaching, research, government service, the non-profit and private sectors.

Indiana University graduate students wishing to learn an African language may apply for an academic year fellowship. Currently approved languages include Arabic, Akan/Twi, Bamana/Bambara, Swahili, Wolof, and Zulu. The fellowship carries a stipend of $15,000 and a fee scholarship covering up to 12 credits of course work per semester (maximum total of 24 credits for the academic year). Award recipients must undertake full-time study during the award period. In addition to enrolling in the chosen language, they must take at least one Africa area course each semester, offered through or cross-listed with African Studies and approved by the African Studies Program.

Summer FLAS fellowships are available to graduate and undergraduate students.* They are intended for intensive language study (140 hours at the elementary and intermediate level; 120 hours at the advanced level) and provide a subsistence allowance of $2,500 and up to $5,000 in tuition. Summer fellowships may be used for study at Indiana University or at another approved institution in the United States or in Africa. Awards for study in Africa are contingent on approval by the U.S. Department of Education. The list of FLAS Approved Africa Programs provides information about options for summer language study in Africa. (There will be no Summer Cooperative Language Institute (SCALI) in summer 2012.)

*Undergraduates may apply only for language study at the intermediate or advanced level. Students wishing to take an African language at the intermediate level should plan to continue their study at the advanced level during the following academic year.

Students are eligible to apply for FLAS if they are:

  • A US citizen or permanent resident
  • Admitted or enrolled in a program in the College of Arts and Sciences or a professional school at Indiana University-Bloomington

FLAS applicaton deadlines:

Academic Year Fellowship
1 February 2012
Summer Fellowship
15 February 2012

All applications must be submitted online at http://www.indiana.edu/~flas/. Supporting materials include: official college or university transcripts and three letters of recommendation. One of these letters should be from the student’s language instructor if s/he has already studied the language of choice or another African language.

Students interested in North/Northeast Africa and wishing to study Arabic may also apply to the Center for the Study of Global Change, the Center for the Study of the Middle East, and/or the Islamic Studies Program. Please visit their web sites for information about their criteria for making awards.

Note: Although the FLAS competition for academic year 2012-13 will proceed as scheduled, funding for the program is contingent on Congressional appropriations for the federal fiscal year 2012.

FLAS Application Tips

FLAS fellowships are highly competitive. Prepare your application with care regardless of whether you have been funded previously or not. Funding in one year does not guarantee funding in a subsequent year. Although we seek to make awards across departments and professional schools and in all of the languages we offer, the fundamental criterion is merit. Here are a few tips to make your FLAS application more competitive:

  • FLAS evaluation committee members look for applicants who express a strong commitment to doing work or research in (or related to) Africa, not only while they are at IU but beyond. In crafting your personal statement, outline your background and area of interest carefully and demonstrate a sense of direction. You are not expected to have mapped out your courses for the next two or three years, but you should have a focus.
  • Inform yourself about the language you wish to study and its availability at IU, or elsewhere in the case of a summer program. Articulate why it is important to study your language of choice and how it relates to your interests. Proposing to study more than one language in a given application gives reviewers the impression that you are not sure what you want to do.
  • If you have not yet had a FLAS fellowship but are already studying the language you are applying for, point it out. It shows reviewers that you are committed to learning the language.
  • If you are submitting a summer FLAS application for study outside the United States, indicate not only what language you want to study and where but also in what program or, in the case of individualized instruction, with whom. Inform yourself of the supporting materials you need and the time line before you submit your application. Any research you may wish to conduct in the summer will have to be carried out after your language program and has no bearing on your application.
  • Should you have an Incomplete grade on your transcript, address it briefly in your statement and note the steps you have taken to complete the work for the course.
  • Don’t approach faculty members about recommendations at the last minute. Give them enough information to write an informed recommendation unless they already know you well.

For questions about these or other issues concerning the content of your application, contact ASP Associate Director Maria Grosz-Ngate: mgrosz [at] indiana.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. I would like to apply for both a Summer and an Academic Year fellowship. Do I need to submit two separate applications?
Yes. Summer and Academic Year applications are reviewed separately, and you will need to describe your proposed program of study in different ways for each of these fellowships.
2. May I apply for different languages in the Summer and Academic Year?
Yes, if knowledge of more than one language is essential to your program of study. Be sure to demonstrate in your personal statement why you need the second language. Your case for a second language will be stronger if you have already reached an advanced level in one language, or if the second language you need is not offered at IU during the academic year.
3. What does “Arabic - Africa” in the online application language drop-down menu mean?
It means that your world area focus should be the African continent, not any other world area or program of study where knowledge of Arabic is important.
4. Can materials from my Academic Year application be copied into my Summer file?
Yes, upon request. If you are applying for both Academic Year and Summer awards this year, you may ask FLAS Coordinator Marilyn Estep (estepm [at] indiana.edu) to copy the transcripts and letters of recommendation submitted in support of your Academic Year application for the Summer application file. We encourage you to request a second set of recommendations if the language you wish to study in the summer is different from the one you are seeking to study during the academic year.
5. Can application materials from a previous year be copied into the current application?
Yes. If you have applied for a FLAS award from the ASP in a previous year, please contact Marilyn Estep (estepm [at] indiana.edu) with a detailed list of the documents that you would like us to use for your current application. This list may include academic transcripts and letters of recommendation from other institutions. If you enrolled at IU since you submitted your previous application, you should also submit the most recent IU transcript and at least one recommendation from an IU professor. We encourage you not to use more than one old recommendation.
6. If I am an IU student, does the copy of my IU transcript need to be official?
No. In the case of IU transcripts only, we will accept a print-out generated by you through the Onestart Student Center.
7. Can I ask my home department to send you copies of my official transcripts from other universities?
Yes, we will accept copies of your official transcripts if they come to us directly from another IU department. However, it your responsibility to ask the departmental graduate secretary to send these via campus mail to Marilyn Estep, Woodburn Hall 221.

Office of International Programs

Graduate students in African Studies can also apply for travel grants to study and/or carry out research in an African country. These grants are awarded through the IU Office of International Programs. They offer students opportunities to visit a country prior to their dissertation research. The two most popular grants of this kind at OIP are the Travel Grant and the Pre-Dissertation Grant (Click here to read the guidelines and receive application forms).

National Programs and Organizations

Finally, students planning to carry out dissertation research in an African country may apply for grants from a number of national programs and organizations, such as Fulbright IIE, Fulbright Hays, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Social Science Research Council, and the National Science Foundation. Both International Programs and the African Studies Program assist students in preparing for these grants.

Grad Grants Center

Indiana University also has a Grad Grants Center, which help students identify sources of other travel, pre-dissertation, dissertation, post-doctoral, dissertation write-up, teaching, etc. support. The Grad Grants Center also assists students in writing successful grant applications. The Center is located on the ninth floor of the Main Library on the Indiana University--Bloomington campus.

For more information on these grants, see the program contact information below.

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