African Studies Center :: Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS)

The African Studies Center (ASC) awards undergraduate and graduate student fellowships under the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program of the U.S. Department of Education for the study of African languages and African area studies. The FLAS Fellowship program is designed to meet critical needs for specialists in American education, government, and other services of a public and/or professional nature who will utilize their skills in training others and in developing throughout the United States a wider knowledge and understanding of other countries and cultures.

FLAS fellowships assist meritorious undergraduate students receiving modern language training in combination with area studies and graduate students engaged in pre-dissertation-level study, preparation for dissertation research, dissertation research abroad, or dissertation writing at MSU. ASC awards two types of FLAS fellowships to eligible students: Summer (SU) fellowships and Academic Year (AY) fellowships.

Renewals are not automatic; FLAS Fellows must reapply each year.

For more information check out the flyer (pdf) and the video (mp4)!

Eligibility

Applicant Eligibility Criteria

Citizenship:

Applicants must be US citizen, non-citizen nationals, or US permanent resident at the time of application.

Student Status:

Applicants who are currently enrolled in a full-time undergraduate or graduate degree program at Michigan State University or have been accepted for admission to MSU and will be enrolled full-time starting Fall of the Academic Year and eligible to receive an MSU scholarship.
Undergraduate and graduate student language learners must be at the intermediate level or higher (have obtained at least 8 credits in an African language by the time the fellowship begins).
Graduate students may engage in beginner-level study, but only when:

The student already has advanced proficiency in another language related to the student’s field of study; and Learning the new language is required for the student’s overall training and expertise.

Undergraduate students cannot receive awards for beginner-level study.
Undergraduate students must always study a less commonly taught African language (LCTL).
Applicants must show potential for high academic achievement based on grade point average and recommendations and demonstrate a long-term interest in Africa.
In addition to merit, demonstrated financial need will be taken into consideration. All applicants will be asked to provide financial support and need information. If applicable, FAFSA verification will be acquired from the Financial Aid Office for applicants who submitted FAFSA for the academic year prior to the AY award period.

Academic Year (AY) Fellowship eligibility requirements:

Applicants must be ready to enroll for full-time academic study at MSU and propose a course of study that includes both language training and related area coursework.
All applicants must be ready to enroll in at least one area studies course (at least 25% Africa content) during both the fall and spring semesters of the academic year. For Ph.D. candidates in the dissertation stage, 999 credits can, in some cases, fulfill both language & area course requirements.

Summer (SU) Fellowships eligibility requirements:

Summer fellowships are for intensive language learning only. Courses may be taken in the U.S. or in Africa. Summer fellows do not enroll in any non-language (i.e., area studies) courses.
Summer programs must be equivalent to one full year of language study as provided during the regular academic year.

At the advanced level: The session must be at least six weeks in duration and offer at least 120 contact hours of instruction.
At the beginning or intermediate level: The session must be at least six weeks in duration and offer at least 140 contact hours of instruction.

All summer language programs must be offered by an accredited or recognized educational institution and/or be approved by the African Studies Center and Program Officer in DC.

Summer and Academic Year FLAS Fellowships

Summer FLAS Fellowships

Summer fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students offer tuition and fees payments for approved summer intensive language program of up to $5,000 and a stipend of up to $3,500 for the summer fellowship period. Contingent upon availability of funding, fellows may be eligible for travel funds (for international travel ONLY) from the U.S. directly to/from their overseas study site of up to $1,000.

Academic Year FLAS Fellowships

Undergraduate students: AY fellowships for undergraduate students offer tuition payments of up to $10,000 per academic year and a stipend up to a total of $5,000 for the same period.

Graduate students: AY fellowships for graduate students offer tuition payments of up to $18,000 per academic year and a stipend up to a total of $20,000 for the same period. Applicants who are Ph.D. candidates at the dissertation stage will be required to provide additional information regarding requesting support for dissertation research and writing.

Dissertation–level doctoral applicants may use FLAS fellowships to fund dissertation research and writing. Dissertation research must be conducted in Africa. Dissertation writing must be conducted at a home institution in the US.

Application Checklist

All applicants:

Application Form
Personal Statement & Career Goals
Two Recommendation Letter(s) emailed directly by recommenders to the African Studies Center (flasasc(at)msu.edu) by the deadline:

From a faculty member familiar with your academic work. Preferably a faculty in your major field of study, graduate program, or advisory/dissertation committee.
From a language instructor. If you have taken an African language course at MSU within the last two academic years, one of the letters must be from an MSU language instructor who will be asked to assess your academic credential and/or ability to learn a foreign language.
Official transcript (PDF) to be emailed directly by the MSU Office of the Registrar or your educational institution to the African Studies Center (flasasc(at)msu.edu ).

Summer applicants, additional checklist:

It is the applicant’s responsibility to apply to a summer program. If traveling abroad, fellow is responsible for own travel arrangements.
Brochures (or other documentation) for each proposed program, containing information on length of program and number of contact/instruction hours.
Information on tuition and fees, whether actual or estimated amounts.

If actual program tuition and fees are not yet published, brochure information or screenshot from the program website showing the tuition and fees from prior year can be uploaded to substantiate the information

Statement of Rationale and Benefits for summer language program

Ph.D. applicants who are in the dissertation stage, additional checklist:

Dissertation Project Description
Letter of Verification/Statement of dissertation progress.

Completed by an MSU faculty advisor or member of the dissertation committee

Email directly by the faculty to the African Studies Center (flasasc(at)msu.edu) by the deadline. In the case that the faculty is also a recommender, the progress description can be integrated into the letter of recommendation.

FLAS Fellowship Manual

Purpose of the Manual

Michigan State University is a proud institutional recipient of the US Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships grant. FLAS Fellowships supports and motivates undergraduate and graduate students in their pursuit of the study of African languages and area studies.

This manual aims to provide further details about the FLAS fellowship to interested students. For any further clarifications, please contact the MSU African Studies Center FLAS Fellowship Coordinator.

Courses

Fellows must enroll in African language and non-language (area study) courses during each semester. A list of the Center Core Curriculum for each semester of the award is posted here.
Other courses may be substituted for those on the core curriculum in consultation with the FLAS program coordinator and must always have at least 25% Africa content.
Fellows must submit syllabi and instructors’ CVs to the FLAS coordinator and to the US Department of Education for all independent study courses that are intended to meet language and area studies requirements.

FLAS Administration

The African Studies Center manages the Africa FLAS Fellowships with the following estimated annual timeline for the Summer and AY FLAS Fellowship competition:

FLAS information dissemination: November - January of the subsequent year
Call for Application opens: December 1
Application (online) deadline: Second week in February of the subsequent year
Conditional Award notification: Last week of March to second week of April of the subsequent year

Assistantship/Employment and Other Grants/Fellowships

FLAS fellows may accept assistantships. A graduate assistantship typically covers up to 9 credits and FLAS covers any credit load beyond that. Tuition and fees payments are limited to actual costs.
FLAS fellows may pursue employment opportunities during their fellowships, provided that the employment does not interfere with the student’s responsibilities as a FLAS fellow.
Fellows may receive the full stipend amounts from multiple fellowship programs, except in some cases where more than one fellowship is from a federal source. To avoid duplication of funds, the total amount of a fellow’s stipend may not exceed the largest maximum allowable amount from among the multiple federal programs.
A FLAS award may impact a student’s eligibility for other aids since some types of aid are based on need and the FLAS stipend could reduce the level of need. FLAS fellows should reach out to financial aid for any official ruling on how the fellowship affects other aids they have.

Travel Warnings

The US Department of Education will not approve the travel of FLAS students to countries where the State Department has strongly urged private American citizens to depart immediately for reasons of personal security (i.e., “Level 4: Do Not Travel”, “ordered departure”) or suspended its Fulbright program for the same reason. Travel to countries under an “authorized departure” where the ambassador has requested Fulbright project participants to leave for security reasons will not be approved. For up-to-date information on travel warnings, consult the Department of State travel warnings.

International Studies & Programs

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS)