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UNC-Chapel Hill graduate student and alumna receive Boren Fellowships
(Chapel Hill, N.C.—July 20, 2016) – Christine Kim, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate student, and Julia Tenyotkin, a Carolina alumna, have each been awarded the National Security Education Program’s David L. Boren Fellowship, which supports fields of study, particularly languages, identified as critical to United States national security.
Valued at up to $30,000, Boren scholarships are awarded to graduate students in exchange for their commitment to pursue work in federal government departments like defense, homeland security and state or intelligence agencies after graduation. Boren Scholars live and study in areas of the world that are important to national security.
Kim is currently a doctoral student in health policy and management in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is also a 2015-16 FHI 360-UNC Research Fellow. The Boren Fellowship will enable her to travel to Uganda, where she will immerse herself in Swahili and Luganda and plans to conduct a process evaluation of a quality improvement project for integrated community-based family planning and HIV services. Kim graduated with a major in history from the University of California-Berkeley in 2007 and also earned a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University in 2011.
Tenyotkin, 26, graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2012 with a global studies and peace, war, and defense double major and a Chinese minor, all from the College of Arts and Sciences. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in international affairs at Monterey Institute of International Studies. The Boren Fellowship will enable Tenyotkin to study Mandarin in China, where she also plans to complete a project focused on understanding the nuances of the South China Sea dispute.
“The Boren Fellowship is among the few awards available to fund deep pursuit of language study for graduate students, and the award underlines the commitment of both the federal government and the Institute of International Education to educate our country’s citizens,” said Mary Floyd-Wilson, director of Carolina’s Office of Distinguished Scholarships. “Without the substantial funding and programs available through the Boren Awards and the National Security Education Program, excellent students like Christine and Julia might find it difficult to gain advanced knowledge of less commonly studied and taught languages that are important to U.S. national security.”
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About the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, is a global higher education leader known for innovative teaching, research and public service. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Carolina regularly ranks as the best value for academic quality in U.S. public higher education. Now in its third century, the University offers 77 bachelor’s, 113 master’s, 68 doctorate and seven professional degree programs through 14 schools and the College of Arts and Sciences. Every day, faculty – including two Nobel laureates – staff and students shape their teaching, research and public service to meet North Carolina’s most pressing needs in every region and all 100 counties. Carolina’s more than 308,000 alumni live in all 50 states and 150 countries. More than 167,000 live in North Carolina.
Office of Distinguished Scholarships contacts: TBD http://distinguishedscholarships.unc.edu; follow ODS on Twitter: @ODS_UNCCH
Communications and Public Affairs contact: MC VanGraafeiland (919) 962-7090, mc.vangraafeiland@unc.edu