The University of Georgia ranks second in the nation as a 2024 top-performing institution for Boren Scholarships after a record number of 11 UGA undergraduates were selected as Boren Scholars this spring. UGA also ranks second for total number of Boren Awards in 2024, which is calculated by combining an institution’s Boren Scholarships and Fellowships.

Six of UGA’s recipients are Boren Flagship Scholars in UGA’s Portuguese Flagship Program; two are Boren Flagship Scholars in UGA’s Russian Flagship Program; and nine recipients are either majoring or minoring in international affairs.

UGA has had 105 Boren Scholarship and Fellowship offers since the program was established in 1991, with 63 in the last 10 years. This marks the fourth year in a row that the university has been named a top-performing institution for Boren Scholarships.

The six Boren Flagship Scholars in UGA’s Portuguese Flagship Program are, left to right, Connor Mason, Emily Hinckley, Nicole Cortes, Dalma Arteaga Rosales, Davis Potts and Bridget Goodman. They will begin classes in Brazil in early 2025. (Photo by Stephanie Schupska)

Boren’s national nominating panel selected 102 Boren Fellows and 215 Boren Scholars in 2024. The award is designed to add important international and language components to students’ educations by giving them the opportunity to study overseas in world regions critical to U.S. interests. Boren Award recipients commit to working in the federal government for at least one year after graduation in exchange for up to $25,000 in funding. The national initiative is administered by the Institute of International Education on behalf of the National Security Education Program.

Dalma Arteaga Rosales, center, an undergraduate in UGA’s Portuguese Flagship Program, holds a Brazilian flag. With her are Portuguese Flagship students Emily Hinckley, Nicole Cortes, Davis Potts and Bridget Goodman. (Photo by Stephanie Schupska)

Students applying for a Boren Award at UGA go through a unique campus review process. It includes an interview with a panel of faculty members and administrators from the Office of Global Engagement and the School of Public and International Affairs, during which panelists and students discuss how to structure their applications within Boren’s national security focus.

This year’s panel included Leah Carmichael, director of active learning at UGA; Andrew Owsiak, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs; and Colleen Larson, global education advisor in the Office of Global Engagement.

“The interview provides instrumental guidance to our students,” said Elizabeth Hughes, Boren Awards campus representative and student affairs professional in the Morehead Honors College. “I am tremendously grateful to our panelists for sharing their expertise and investing so much in our students’ success.”

The following six recipients were awarded a Boren Scholarship to support their participation in a capstone-year program to study Portuguese and complete an internship in Brazil. The Language Flagship provides undergraduates with the opportunity to pursue professional-level language proficiency in one of seven critical languages. UGA hosts Language Flagship programs in both Portuguese and Russian.

• Dalma Arteaga Rosales of Madrid, Spain, and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, is a third-year student majoring in international affairs, supply chain and operations management and Portuguese.
• Nicole Cortes of Locust Grove is a second-year Honors student majoring in international affairs, minoring in Portuguese and pursuing a certificate in sustainability.
• Bridget Goodman of Decatur is a second-year Honors student majoring in journalism, comparative literature and Portuguese.
• Emily Hinckley of Alpharetta is a first-year student majoring in international affairs and minoring in Portuguese and Latin American & Caribbean studies.
• Connor Mason of Auburn is a third-year student majoring in biological engineering and minoring in Portuguese.
• Davis Potts of Watkinsville is a third-year Honors student majoring in international affairs and Portuguese.

The following two recipients were awarded a Boren Scholarship to support their participation in a capstone-year program to study Russian and complete an internship in Kazakhstan.

• Madi Fulton of Kennesaw is a fourth-year Honors student majoring in Russian and Spanish and minoring in international affairs.
• Emily Medlock of Suwanee is a third-year student majoring in international affairs and Russian.

The following three recipients were awarded a Boren Scholarship to support their language study in a variety of countries.

• Alimata Bah of McDonough was awarded a Boren Scholarship to study Arabic in Jordan. Bah is a third-year Honors student majoring in international affairs and political science and minoring in Arabic.
• MaryQuinn Mills of Gainesville was awarded a Boren Scholarship to study Mandarin in Taiwan. Mills is a fourth-year student majoring in international affairs and Asian languages and literature, with a Chinese emphasis, and minoring in TESOL, which is teaching English to speakers of other languages.
• Jocelyn “Yoshi” Castro of Gainesville was awarded a Boren Scholarship to study Korean in South Korea. Castro is a third-year student majoring in international affairs and minoring in Korean.

UGA’s major scholarships office, housed in the Morehead Honors College, works closely with all students across campus as they apply for national, high-level scholarships. For more information on applying for a Boren Scholarship or Fellowship through UGA, contact Elizabeth Hughes at [email protected]. For more information on the Boren Awards, visit https://www.borenawards.org/.