Prestigious scholarships awarded to UNG students

This year, several students from the University of North Georgia (UNG) have earned nationally competitive scholarships to be used to further their studies abroad this summer.

A distinct number of UNG students, including art major Theresa Kim, were awarded the Gilman International Scholarship. Sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, the Gilman Scholarship allows recipients the opportunity to gain a better understanding of other cultures, countries, languages, and economies — preparing them to assume leadership roles within government and the private sector.

Kim will be travelling to China and is most looking forward to diving into a new culture.

"This will be my first time out of the country and will be a great opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and gain experience abroad for my future artistic career," she said.

Five other UNG students were also awarded the Gilman Scholarship:

• Alex Gravlin, nursing major, traveling to Russia
• Jonathan Bell, history major with an anthropology minor, traveling to Italy
• William Courson, kinesiology major, traveling to Peru
• Nicholas Salter, international affairs with an Asian concentration, traveling to China
• Tatum McMullan, nursing major, traveling to Italy.

"The number and quality of UNG students winning scholarships to study abroad demonstrates UNG’s continued commitment to developing global leaders. We are very proud of our students’ hard work and determination, and we applaud the exceptional mentorship provided to them by both faculty and staff," said Anastasia Lin, associate professor and assistant dean of Student Research and Scholarship at UNG.

Last year, Kim was selected as a semi-finalist for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), an exceedingly competitive scholarship that selected only 550 students out of 5,500 applications.

"I honestly did not think I would receive the Gilman Scholarship considering how competitive it is. However, my confidence grew drastically when I was chosen as a semi-finalist for CLS last year. Feeding off of that excitement, I applied for the Gilman and Freeman-Asia Grant, and won both." 

The Freeman-Asia Grant provides scholarships to undergraduate students to help fund study abroad programs in east and southeast Asia. Award amounts vary, from $3,000 for a summer program, $5,000 for a semester or quarter, or $7,000 for an academic year.

Salters was awarded the Freeman-Asia grant to study in China this summer, and was also the recipient of the Gilman Scholarship in 2016.

Dante Jordan was the UNG student selected to receive the prestigious David L. Boren Scholarship. The national scholarship is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense's National Security Education Program and is worth up to $20,000 for a recipient to spend a full academic year studying abroad.

Boren scholarships provide undergraduate students with the resources and encouragement they need to acquire skills and experiences in areas of the world critical to the future security of our nation. They receive the scholarship in exchange for their commitment to seek work in the federal government for at least one year after graduation.

Jordan, who is a psychology major and Arabic minor, will be commissioning as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in May 2018.

Honors student Lindsey Smith was selected for the Fulbright Summer Institute to the United Kingdom. She will spend three weeks this summer immersed in the culture and history of Scotland. She was one of only four United States' students selected and one of 60 across the world.

These 11 scholarship recipients are among the nearly 50 UNG students who have been awarded nationally competitive scholarships to study abroad in the past four years.

Students interested in learning more about nationally competitive scholarships should contact ncs@ung.edu for more information. Also, students interested in learning about programs to study abroad can visit the Education Abroad website.