The Critical Language Scholarship Program, run by the U.S. Department of State, provides intensive summer language and cultural exchange programs across the world. Chisti is one of 17 Fordham students who have been awarded the scholarship since the program began in 2006. 

An Aspiring Foreign Service Officer

Chisti will study Arabic, one of the most spoken languages in the world—and a language that is important to her Muslim faith. Chisti grew up reading the Muslim holy book, the Quran, which is written in Arabic. She also studied classic Arabic throughout high school.

From June to August, Chisti will learn intermediate Arabic in Morocco. When she returns home, she plans to pursue her goal of becoming a foreign service officer, focused on the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. She’s also considering law school. 

“It’s important to understand conflicts in the MENA area and why this area is crucial, especially since it’s a source of global economic energy resources,” Chisti said. 

A Global Education at Fordham

Chisti is the daughter of Pakistani immigrants. She was raised by her father, a taxi driver, and her mother, who reared Chisti and her three siblings in Brooklyn. Chisti enrolled at Fordham as a member of the University’s Higher Education Opportunity Program. This May, she became the second member of her family to earn a college degree. (Last year, her older sister graduated from Columbia University.)

In her studies at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, including the selective Matteo Ricci Seminar, she learned about different world views. “In my humanitarian studies program, we didn’t just talk about what’s done right by the U.S. We talked about every aspect, the things we need to fix, and that we can fix them,” Chisti said. 

Outside of the classroom, Chisti tutored and taught students at Goddard Riverside, New Visions for Public Schools, and Harlem Children’s Zone. On Global Outreach projects to Colombia and Mexico, she met with community partners and examined immigrant issues. This year, she interned with the International Rescue Committee, where she taught English to adult ESL students and helped immigrants to pursue their career and education goals. At Fordham, she also served as president of the Muslim Students Association at Lincoln Center. 

“Fordham has given me a lot of opportunities,” Chisti said. “It gave me a stool, and I took the jump to get where I needed to be.” 

In addition to Chisti, three other students and alumni were awarded a Critical Language Scholarship or named an alternate during the 2022-2023 academic school year:

• Caitlin Leib, FCLC ’23, a French studies graduate from Connecticut, is in the Beginner Russian Spark program.
• Alexander Meyer, GSAS ’24, an international political economy and development major from Arizona, is an alternate for Beginner Portuguese.
• Alexandra Tamsi, FCRH ’24, an international studies major from Connecticut, is an alternate for Intermediate Russian.

 

As of May 18, Fordham undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni have received 62 prestigious awards this year, including three Fulbrights, a Critical Language Scholarship, 10 Excellence in Broadcasting awards, three Gates Millennium Scholarships, a Ford predoctoral fellowship, a Marshall award winner, three National Science Foundation fellowships, a Soros fellowship winner, a prestigious DAAD Long-Term Research Grant, and an internship in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In addition to the winners, two scholars were named as finalists for prestigious awards, including a Coro fellowship finalist, and 21 were named as semi-finalists.

“Despite the many challenges that the global pandemic presented, the Campion Institute saw a record number of applicants who persevered through a rigorous application process and learned a lot about themselves, their values, and the contribution they hope to make to the world,” said Anna Beskin, Ph.D., interim director of the Office of Prestigious Fellowships. “We couldn’t be prouder of all of our applicants!”

Alejandra Garcia, FCLC ’21, who majored in visual arts and English, won a U.S. Fulbright Student Arts Program award to France. Garcia, who grew up in San Diego, near the U.S. border with Mexico, said a lot of her painting and drawing has focused on migration and immigration, something she hopes to explore more in France.

“I’m pretty interested in the different or similar attitudes towards migration—I’m from a border city—and I think I have a very particular view of my own experiences with xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments and things of that sort. And I am very curious to learn about how that is handled in France and in Europe,” she said. “I really want to work with immigrant communities there rather than just learn about it from an outsider perspective. I want to be integrated and hear from those actual voices.”

Garcia said she’ll be working on her immigration studies with the Paris College of Art, and, hopefully, the National Museum of History of Immigration. She’ll also be working with the Paris College of Art on their “Drawing is Free” program, which invites the public in to use their resources and create art.

“That was something that I was really attracted to, because something that I really believe in is expanding artistic accessibility to other people,” she said.

Garcia said her goal is to pursue U.S. artist-in-residence opportunities after her Fulbright and pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in a few years.

Matias Ayala, PCS ’21, won a U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs IT Fellowship. Ayala, who came to Fordham after serving in the Marine Corps, said his time in the military made him interested in cybersecurity and information technology.

“I started hearing a lot about cybersecurity, mainly in our deployment briefings. We heard a lot about how to remain secure and make sure that we’re not exposing ourselves from a cyber standpoint,” said Ayala, who is graduating with his bachelor’s degree in information technology and systems.

Ayala said that Fordham’s program is a good fit for veterans.

“They’ve been targeting veterans because of our experience—we have a certain mindset that’s very good within cybersecurity, being able to analyze it and act on intelligence,” he said, adding that Fordham’s location was also ideal for him. “I have family here in New York City, so I figured that was a good transition—I could move in with family while I got my feet back under me.”

The fellowship, which Ayala will complete while pursuing a master’s in information technology at Fordham, will expose him to different areas of the State Department and allow him to gain experience through two summer internships. After the fellowship ends, Ayala said he would be offered a five-year contract to continue working at the State Department.

Ayala credits Fordham’s Veterans Center and his internship with the University’s Information Security Office for helping him earn this fellowship.

“Fordham gives us the tools to make sure that our veterans that are transitioning from the military to the civilian sector are able to get a good job and be successful,” he said.

When Alison Rini, FCRH ’21, was in high school, she participated in a two-month high school exchange program in Spain, staying with a family about 30 minutes outside of Madrid. That experience made her fall in love with Spain, so when she was applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, she applied for one there. Her bid was successful, and the English and Italian Studies major said she’s excited for the opportunity to teach students about American culture and immerse herself in the Spanish capital’s “Global Classrooms” program.

“In Madrid, there is the Global Classrooms program, which is essentially Model United Nations. I do Model U.N. at Fordham, I did it in high school. And so I was really excited about the possibility of teaching Model U.N. to a ninth-grade class,” she said, adding that she would help them compete with other students and get the chance to travel to New York.

Rini, who served as a researcher in Fordham’s Bronx African-American History Project, Bronx Italian-American History Initiative, and Bronx COVID-19 Oral History Project, said that she’s going to use this opportunity to explore teaching as a career and reconnect with her classmates from her high school exchange program. A former intern in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rini is also considering a career in the federal government.

Seana Epley, GSAS ’21, won the Critical Language Scholarship in back-to-back years in 2020 and 2021 to study and learn Swahili, initially in Tanzania, but now virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Epley, who is getting her master’s in humanitarian studies after earning an undergraduate degree in disaster response and emergency management from the University of North Texas, said she always had a desire to work on the African continent, which is what inspired her to pursue Swahili.

The program will run virtually over the summer for eight weeks and Epley said she plans to try to immerse herself in the language as much as possible to help her apply to nonprofits who are working on disaster response in the region.

“I felt like I could be of more use if I had a language that was applicable,” she said.

Epley said that while the phrase “build back better” has become cliche, she does want to do work that helps communities be stronger after a disaster.

“If you’re going into a community that’s been impacted by a disaster, you don’t want to build to the exact same standards, … because that’s just asking for more damage next time,” she said. “The ultimate goal of most humanitarians is to not be needed someday…I’d like to work with an organization that supplements those [community]specific skills and doesn’t just come in and take over.”

As of May 18, prestigious awards received this year include:

• Gates Millennium Scholars: Adiza Awwal, GSAS ’25; Mary Bookman, FCLC ’24; Arely Garcia, GSE ’25
• Marshall Award: Kayla Matteucci, FCLC ’18
• Ford Predoctoral Fellowship: Obianujunwa Anakwenze, GSAS ’24
• Soros Fellowship: Nikolas Oktaba, FCLC ’15
• Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship from the Hudson River Foundation: Royall McMahon Ward, FCLC ’22
• DAAD Long-Term Research Grant: Kathryn Bresee, GSAS ’23
• Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting: Anthony Alaimo, FCRH ’23, and Rebecca Gutierrez, FCRH ’22, in the Professional Category for Outstanding Podcast; Emmanuel Berbari, FCRH ’21, for Outstanding Podcast; Dominic Capone, FCRH ’20 and Devin Clementi, GABELLI ’20, in the College Radio Division for Outstanding Sports Coverage; Carmen Collins, GSAS ’20, Nicholas DeLuca, FCRH ’22, in the College Radio Division for Outstanding Podcast; Evan Jaenichen, FCRH ’20, in College TV Division for Outstanding Series or Documentary; Charles Maisano, FCRH ’20, in the College Radio Division for Outstanding Sports Coverage; Eliot Schiaparelli, FCRH ’21, in College Radio Division for Outstanding Newscast
• Alliance for Women in Media Foundation 2021 Gracie Award: Carmen Collins, GSAS ’20, Nora Thomas, FCRH ’21
• New York Press Club Award: Brianna Leverty, FCRH ’20
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program: Daniel Alonso, GSAS ’30, April Rich, FCRH ’19; Micah Savin, GSAS ’28
• United States Department of Treasury Summer 2021 Internship in Washington D.C.: John Brower, GSAS ’25
• Civil Rights Fellow at the National Education Association: Laura Petty, LAW ’21
• Public Service Fellow to the U.S, Mission to the United Nations: Adam Brasher, GSAS ’25
• Panda Cares Scholars: Baghdad Numi, FCRH ’23; Annie Qiu, GABELLI ’24

However, 2016 saw many scholarship plans disrupted when instability in Turkey forced the U.S. Department of State to halt all sponsored trips to the area. The Fulbright Scholar Program, Boren Awards, and other programs were cancelled or displaced, leaving students nationwide without a plan of action.

Among that group were three Fordham students who were left in an unfortunate and sensitive situation.

Same Plan, Different Country

Antonio DelGrande, FCRH ’16, was excited about the opportunity to return to Turkey to study the Turkish language on a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS). He began teaching himself Turkish in high school and studied abroad there twice through Fordham. The week that DelGrande was supposed to sign his acceptance letter, however, was the same weekend of the attempted coup (July 15).

“I was upset because I really wanted to go back,” said DelGrande. The thought of not being in Turkey to study Turkish, he said. didn’t feel right.

Instead of Bursa, Turkey, CSL moved DelGrande’s program to Baku, Azerbaijan, a city almost 1,500 miles away. Even though it was an unknown terrain, DelGrande was still enthusiastic about the experience.

“I was [still] part of a great scholarship project and that was going to be a once in a lifetime experience,” said DelGrande. “There was a thrill to exploring a new country I may have [otherwise]never travelled to.”

DelGrande hopes to return to Turkey once it is deemed safe—whether it is for a graduate program, a teaching position, or simply a visit. In the meantime, he continues to improve on his language skills.

“I’ll relish any chance I have to go back,” he said.

Going Despite the Odds

Even before he applied for a Fulbright, David Rowley, FCRH ’13, knew what that he wanted to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) to Arabic speakers. He became interested in the Middle East during his studies at Fordham and traveled to Jordan to study Arabic. After his graduation, he also spent time teaching ESL in Tunisia. Turkey was next on his list, he said, because of the nation’s influence in the Middle East.

“Turkey has a wide effect on the Middle East and Northern Africa economically, culturally, and linguistically,” said Rowley. “I wanted to experience the culture firsthand and learn the extent of its influence.”

When he heard that the state department cancelled his trip, he reached out to everyone he knew in the Middle East. A professor at the university where he was supposed to teach contacted him, saying the university had openings in the foreign language department. Rowley got the teaching job.

“I knew I didn’t want the cancellation to slow me down,” he said. “I was so relieved when he contacted me. I was lucky.”

Rowley now lives in Sakarya, Turkey and works at Sakarya University, where he hopes to spend at least a year before returning to the United States to get a master’s degree in education. He looks forward to teaching English and Arabic stateside, and to entering academia.

Hoping for a Second Chance

Mostafa Elmadboly, FCRH ’16, was forced to accept that his plans to teach English at Bülent Ecevit University in Zonguldak, a Turkish mining town on the Black Sea, were no longer an option for him after the announcement of the state department cancellations.

“I’d gone to Turkey before on the Critical Language Scholarship and had an incredible experience,” said Elmadboly. “A few of my classmates were former Fulbrighters and had encouraged me to apply.”

“There’s history everywhere in Turkey. I [still] want to complement my experiences in the Arab world by studying and living there,” he said.

Rebecca Stark-Gendrano, assistant director in the Office of Prestigious Fellowships, said that because fellowships are intensely competitive to begin with, the office encourages students to develop numerous contingency plans.”That way, if plan A doesn’t work out, we can get right to work helping students figure out how to make plan B or plan C a reality,” she said. (top photo by Osman Orsal)

–Mary Awad