Contingent upon US Department of Education funding, the Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies offers academic year Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships. The graduate FLAS Fellowship is a prestigious award funded by the US Department of Education that provides recipients up to full graduate tuition in addition to a living stipend. Only US citizens and permanent residents are eligible to receive FLAS Fellowships. To apply for an academic year FLAS, you must submit a FLAS graduate application to the department or professional school in which you are currently enrolled or to which you are seeking admission. Currently, academic year FLAS-eligible languages include: Russian, Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian (BCS), Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Turkish, and Ukrainian. Fellowship competitions are held each winter; check with your department for FLAS application due dates.
FLAS awards are also available for intensive summer language study. Application forms for Summer FLAS Fellowships should be submitted to Pitt’s Summer Language Institute.
FLAS Fellowships are authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education Act and are administered by the US Department of Education. The purpose of the FLAS Fellowship program is: “To assist in the development of knowledge, resources, and trained personnel for modern foreign language and area studies, to stimulate the attainment of foreign language acquisition and fluency, and to develop a pool of international experts to meet national needs.” As such, these fellowships may only be awarded to US citizens or US permanent residents.
The deadline for 2024-2025 applications to be submitted to REEES will be on February 15, 2024. Please check with your department about earlier internal deadlines.
Eligibility:
In order to apply, students must be:
- A U.S. citizen or permanent resident
- Enrolled in a master's or doctoral degree program at the University of Pittsburgh during the fellowship period
FLAS Graduate Fellows are expected to register and devote full time to their study, and thus, during the period of their Fellowship, they are typically not permitted to hold a teaching or other remunerative position at the University of Pittsburgh.
Evaluation Criteria:
- Overall quality of academic record
- Relevance of target language to student’s plan of study and future career goals
- Evidence of commitment to language and area studies of the REEES world region
- Financial need will be considered for applicants who have submitted a current Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the University of Pittsburgh
Application Materials:
Applications should be submitted to the student's department or school, which will select applications to forward to REEES by the deadline. Applications should contain all of the following materials. Only complete applications will be accepted.
- Completed FLAS graduate application
- Curriculum Vitae (no more than 2 pages)
- All undergraduate and graduate transcripts
- Language Study Plan: 1-2 page statement indicating the FLAS-eligible language you propose to study, how you will combine language and area studies to satisfy FLAS requirements, the extent of current or previous language training, and your native language, if other than English
- Personal Study Plan: 2-3 page statement indicating the relationship between your area of study and anticipated career goals, a brief personal history including any experience(s) in or related to the appropriate area, and the title and brief description of the dissertation topic, if applicable
- Two letters of recommendation
- Optional Financial Aid Information Release (if you choose not to submit a FAFSA and sign this release, please be aware that while your FLAS application will remain eligible for merit-based consideration, you will forfeit any need-based consideration of your application)
For more information, contact REESAdvising@pitt.edu.