THE BASICS   

Overview

Boren Fellowships offer an opportunity for U.S. graduate students to add an international component to their degree programs. Fellows often combine coursework, including language study, with independent research.

We award fellowships of up to $30,000 for study of world regions critical to U.S. interests, including Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America & the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Only the countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are excluded.

Fellows may seek support for a combination of domestic and foreign study; stronger proposals often include significant time abroad.

The major sections of this site (you're in The Basics) are displayed at your left. Details of each section are provided by selecting the tabs at right, such as Am I eligible?

National security, Language and culture

We focus on geographic areas, languages, and fields of study seen as critical to U.S. national security. We draw on a broad definition of national security, including military, political, environmental, and social concerns.

Boren Fellowships are intended to provide support to students who study languages and cultures currently underrepresented in study abroad. Study of a foreign language is an integral part of every Boren proposal.

More information about languages, countries, fields of study, and length of study is available in the section What & where can I study?, which also introduces you to our focus on U.S. national security.

SerVice Requirement

The service requirement states that an award recipient work in the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State, or the Intelligence Community. Under some circumstances, an award recipient may work in any U.S. federal department or agency with national security responsibilities. For an introduction to the service requirement, please see Am I willing to do public service? You'll also see that preference for Boren Fellowships is given to students planning a career in federal service.

Current Boren Fellows

Share the experiences of the current group of Boren Fellows and Scholars by visiting the “dispatches” section of worldstudy.gov. You can also download a list, in PDF form, of the 2006-7 Boren Fellowship recipients, which indicates the country they're traveling to and the language they're studying.

If you are confident the Boren Fellowship is right for you, and you are eager to get started, click on Shape Your Plan in the left-hand navigation! Print out a fact sheet (pdf) that summarizes the Boren requirements and opportunities.