KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Four University of Kansas students have received prestigious scholarships to study abroad in the 2009-10 academic year.

Lyle Hansen of St. Louis, Mo., and Joel Hernandez of Kansas City, Kan., have received Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships offered through the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Sean Borton of Lawrence and Colby J. Smith of Leavenworth accepted David L. Boren Scholarships that are funded by the National Security Education Program, which focuses on geographic areas, languages and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security.

Established under the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000, Gilman scholarships provide up to $5,000 for U.S. students to study abroad. Students studying critical-need languages are eligible for up to $3,000 in additional funding. The competitive program aims to diversify students who study abroad and the countries and regions to which they go. The Institute of International Education’s Southern Regional Center in Houston, Texas, administers the program.

Boren scholarships provide up to $20,000 to U.S. undergraduate students to study abroad in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin American and the Middle East. The scholarships are named for the former U.S. senator who was the principal author of the legislation that established through National Security Education Program and the Boren awards program that bears his name.

The KU students selected are listed below by hometown, level in school, major, parents’ names, high school and where they will be studying. All will be abroad for a full academic year.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence 66049
Sean Borton, senior in East Asian languages and cultures and political science; Lawrence High School; Korea University in Seoul, South Korea.

LEAVENWORTH COUNTY
From Leavenworth 66048
Colby J. Smith, senior majoring in humanities, son of Charlie and Michael McSweeney; Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Alaska; American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY
From Kansas City 66102
Joel Hernandez, junior majoring in East Asian studies; Wyandotte High School; Huazhong Normal University in Wuhan, China.

MISSOURI
From St. Louis 63123
Lyle Hansen, senior in architectural studies, son of Jeffrey and Stephaine Hansen; Saint Louis University High School; Pontificia Universidade Católica in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.