The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at The Ohio State University (OSU) is seeking applications for fellowships for Summer 2025 Academic Year 2025-2026 under the U.S. Department of Education's Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program. These fellowships are available to all full-time graduate and professional students at all levels and in any department who are pursuing a course of study which requires advanced foreign language and area studies training. All applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Exceptionally, in addition to Portuguese, Quechua, and Haitian Creole, this competition will accept applications for Advanced Spanish at the graduate/professional level, dissertation research abroad, and dissertation writing at home.
Language Eligibility
Awards will be made through CLAS for Haitian Creole, Portuguese, or Quechua. Applications for other Latin American languages (e.g. Spanish, Aymara, K’iche’ Maya, Nahuatl) will also be considered on a case-by-case basis. If applying for an award in more than one language, separate applications for each language/area study focus must be submitted. Applicants are responsible for contacting appropriate language departments to establish that their requested level of language instruction will be offered in the 2025-2026 academic year at the time of the application submission.
PhD candidates applying for FLAS dissertation writing or dissertation research abroad must be already at the advanced level of language proficiency. The use of the foreign language in dissertation research must be extensive enough to be able to consider the language improvement facilitated by the research equal to improvement that would be obtained from a full academic year's worth of formal classroom instruction. Students must be advanced to candidacy by the beginning of the fall semester.
Summer 2025 Fellowships
Summer (SU) fellowships are expected to carry a stipend of $3,500 and contribute up to $5,000 towards tuition and fees. A travel award of up to $1,000 might be awarded, if funds are available. SU fellowships are awarded for intensive language study only. To be eligible for support, intensive programs must encompass the equivalent of a full year of language study with at least 120 contact/classroom hours in instruction for advanced language levels and 140 hours for intermediate language levels and offer at least 6 weeks of instruction. Individualized instruction and audited classes are ineligible for a Summer FLAS. SU fellowships may be used for intensive language study at institutions other than OSU, including study abroad. In such cases, applicants must provide itemized data on tuition, fees, and room and board expenses in the Budget Estimate section of the online application.
U.S. government regulations require all recipients of a FLAS travel award (available in some circumstances for summer fellows) to comply with the provisions of the Fly America Act. Specifically, all tickets for overseas flights purchased with U.S. Dept. of Education funds must be on a U.S. carrier, unless the traveler is able to meet specific exception requirements. If a fellow fails to meet any of these requirements, support may be withheld and/or the fellow will be required to return funds given to them, including payments for tuition and fees.
If studying overseas, fellows must register this travel with OSU's Global Education office and purchase the required supplemental travel insurance; the cost of which is the fellow's personal responsibility.
Academic Year 2025-2026 Fellowships
Academic Year (AY) fellowships are expected to carry a stipend of $20,000 for graduate and professional students. In addition, academic year fellowships provide students in programs within the OSU Graduate School an award for full tuition and partial OSU fees. Professional school students receive up to $18,000 in tuition support. Subject to approval, AY FLAS fellowships may also be used for foreign language and area studies at other U.S. or foreign institutions. Because FLAS Fellowships are language and area study-based, all award recipients in the language competition must be enrolled in at least one three- credit, graded, classroom- taught language course and at least one three-credit, graded, classroom- taught area studies course each semester during the tenure of the fellowship. AY award recipients must also be full-time fellows (12 credit hours per semester).
Exceptionally, this competition will also support dissertation research abroad and dissertation writing at home.
In order to gauge each student's language progress during the period of their fellowship, recipients are required to take language proficiency entrance and exit examinations at the beginning and end of the academic year. FLAS Fellows are also required to meet with the FLAS Coordinator prior to the start of each semester to discuss their course load and program of study. In addition, all recipients are required to submit a post-fellowship online report to the U.S. Department of Education, and participate in brief bi-annual surveys on their job placement and use of language skills for eight years post- graduation. If a Fellow fails to meet any of these requirements, money may be withheld and/or they will be required to return the money given to them including payments for tuition.
Priorities
In awarding Academic Year 2024-2025 fellowships, consideration will be given to applicants with academic merit and professional potential who also demonstrate financial need as defined in Part F of Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Highest priority will be given to candidates proposing to study at the advanced level (Level 3 or higher) before entering government service; second-highest priority will be given to students planning to study at the advanced levels (Level 3 or higher) in the first three years of their graduate or professional program; and third-highest priority will be given to students planning to study at the intermediate level (Level 2) or above in non-prototypical fields. Priority is also given to language study instead of dissertation writing or research competitions.
Award Notifications
Fellowship competition results will be announced in mid March 2025.
Application Procedures
The application deadline is Saturday, February 1, 2025, by 11:59 PM for Summer 2025 and Academic Year 2025-2026 fellowship applications. No consideration will be given to applications that are incompletely or improperly filled out. A complete application includes the following:
1. The completed Online Application Form. (Students not currently enrolled in Ohio State should use access this Application Form)
2. An up-to-date OSU Advising Report of all courses taken and grades received, and transcripts from any other previous college level study at other institutions (attached in your online application).
3. A Resume or CV (two pages maximum; attached in your online application).
4. A one-page single-spaced Statement of Intent (attached in your online application).
5. A Budget Estimate section in your online application, with relevant supporting materials attached, if applicable
6. At least two Letters of Reference from faculty members familiar with the student's work, including:
- One letter from faculty who can speak to the applicant's qualifications, and preferably to how the applicant plans to combine their language skills with an international career;
- One letter from a language faculty at the college level to speak to the applicant's language ability.
Letter writers should send their letters via email to clas@osu.edu by Saturday, February 1, 2025.
7. Applicants must also separately submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to OSU's Office of Student Financial Aid in order to be considered for a FLAS Fellowship by February 1, 2024. The FAFSA can be accessed at http://sfa.osu.edu.
Contact
Questions? Contact CLAS Assistant Director Leila Vieira at vieira.31@osu.edu.