Boren Scholarship Winners

Posted: April 26, 2021 by Holly Jones

Winners of the Boren Scholarship, a highly competitive national scholarship, were recently named, with two being our very own PSIA students. Philip Ly and Katherine "Kat" Torres. Rhiannon Smith was also a recipient and will start her Master's of Arts in International Affairs online when she studies abroad. A total of six UNG students were awarded scholarship.

The Boren Scholarship provides up to $25,000 to U.S. students to study abroad in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests. Boren Scholars and Fellows study a broad range of languages that are less commonly taught, that include but are not limited to Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, and Swahili.

Neither Philip Ly or Katherine Torres are new to winning scholarships.

Philip Ly, a junior from Forest Park, GA, is pursuing a degree in Strategic and Security Studies with a minor in Japanese. In the last year, Philip has won the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship as well as the Freeman-Asia Award. Through the Boren Scholarship, he will be studying in Japan.

Katherine Torres, a senior from Hoschton, GA, is graduating with a degree in Political Science with a Pre-Law concentration. She was a Fulbright semi-finalist and a Pickering Fellowship Alternate. Kat is a member of the Honors Program and is the first student from the Gainesville Campus to receive a Boren Award. Through the Boren Scholarship, she will study through the Indonesia Flagship Language Initiative, which invites students to learn Indonesian from scratch domestically then abroad.

The third student mentioned, Rhiannon Smith of Dahlonega, GA, is a senior who is graduating with degrees in Psychology and Modern Languages with a Russian Language and Literature concentration. She is planning to start her Master's program for International Affairs online this Fall. Through the Boren Scholarship, Rhiannon will study a year abroad in Kazakhstan.