Seventeen students accepted to yearlong intensive language program
Seventeen seniors in the University of Mississippi Language Flagship programs have been accepted into competitive Chinese and Arabic capstone year programs, setting a record for the university.
“Our students are the best,” said Donald Dyer, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs and Distinguished Professor of Modern Languages. “These record numbers are a real indication of how strong our Flagship programs are.”
As capstone participants, students spend their final year directly enrolled at a university in Taiwan or Morocco. They also complete an internship in a field of their choice while abroad.
All 10 of the university’s Arabic Language Flagship students and seven Chinese Language Flagship students who applied to the program were accepted this year, Dyer said.
“The ratio of how many students apply and how many of those students are accepted has become, in large part, the measure of a Language Flagship program’s success,” he said.
“In next year’s Arabic capstone, there are only 30 students accepted from all the programs, and 10 of them are Ole Miss students.”
Allen Clark, co-director of the UM Arabic Flagship program and associate professor of modern languages, said the achievement reflects the program’s quality.
“This achievement not only reflects the exceptional dedication and talent of our students but also underscores the strength and effectiveness of our program,” he said.
Arabic Language Flagship students accepted to capstone this year are:
- Mark Baisier, of Atlanta
- Lee Holmes, of Tullahoma, Tennessee
- Caroline Leonard, of Knoxville, Tennessee
- Abigail Metcalf, of Jackson
- Ben Newton, of La Grange, Texas
- Sydney Rehm, of Collierville, Tennessee
- Gabe Robin, of Lafayette, Louisiana
- Hannah Scardino, of Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Jackie Stewart-Kuhn, of Mobile, Alabama
- Matthew Young, of Oxford.
Chinese Language Flagship students accepted to capstone this year are:
- Hal Fox, of New Orleans
- Jonah Kocisko, of Fort Myers, Florida
- Katelin Lawrence, of Ocean Springs
- Michael Luster, of Birmingham, Alabama
- Zachary Partin, of Collierville, Tennessee
- Alyssa Tunstall, of Byhalia
- Sydney Woodard, of Paducah, Kentucky.
Launched in 2002, the National Security Education Program’s Language Flagship supports intensive programs in languages deemed critical for American government, business and military interests. They include Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese.
Only 13 U.S. colleges and universities host Flagship programs. In 2003, Ole Miss became one of the first institutions to be awarded a Chinese Flagship Program. The university’s Arabic Flagship Program launched in 2018, making UM one of only four institutions with multiple Flagship programs.
“I’m trying to make my Arabic proficiency as superior as I can,” said Holmes, who is majoring in Arabic and international studies in the Croft Institute for International Studies.
“Having the highest proficiency as I possibly can in Arabic would help me for my future because I’m trying to get a job at the State Department, ideally.”
Holmes, who is also a David L. Boren scholarship recipient, spent two months studying in Morocco during the summer of 2022.
“I feel much more prepared this time, thanks to my Flagship professors,” Holmes said. “They’re some of the best teachers I’ve ever had.
Their effort, their compassion and how much they care about the students is incredible.”
Baisier, an Arabic major with an international studies minor, completed a two-month summer program in Morocco and another in Jordan.
“The opportunity to entirely immerse myself in local culture is something you can’t do in two months,” said Baisier, who has also learned French and Spanish.
With his eyes set on a career in diplomacy, soaking up Moroccan culture is a top priority for Baisier’s upcoming capstone year.
“For me, cultural understanding is very important for things like diplomacy or any sort of state work,” he said.
“So, I hope that this capstone year will provide me with an even greater, more in-depth understanding of the subtle nuances and similarities between American and Moroccan cultures that, hopefully, I can apply in the professional world.”
That is exactly the kind of skill the Language Flagship program was designed to instill, co-director Clark said.
“More than just language acquisition, (capstone) allows students to live the culture, navigate everyday challenges and gain nuanced understanding that can only come from direct experience,” he said.
“This immersive experience is invaluable in transforming them into global citizens with a deep appreciation and understanding of the Arab world.”
Zhini Zeng, associate professor of Chinese and co-director of the university’s Chinese Language Flagship Program, said she was excited to learn that seven of her students were accepted into the program.
“This achievement is particularly special, considering the fact that this group of students embarked on this journey during the challenging time of the pandemic,” Zeng said.
“Our program usually starts with an intensive pre-freshman summer program. However, this is the only group of students who did not have any summer training prior to their freshman year. Plus, their first study-abroad summer was also completely disrupted by COVID.”
Kocisko and Woodard are also Boren scholarship recipients. They will complete their capstone year at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.
“The Monterey program is usually for students who are more interested in working for the government after graduation,” Zeng said. “It doesn’t have the internship component but provides more networking opportunities and career guide for federal jobs.
“Only Boren awardees can go to the California program.”
Ole Miss has enjoyed two consecutive years of record-breaking student acceptance into the capstone program, Dyer said.
“The students in these two programs are just tremendous,” he said. “The key to our students’ linguistic success is that we have strong faculty, we recruit students nationwide, we keep small class sizes and offer tutoring support.
Daniel O’Sullivan, chair of the department of modern languages and professor of French, believes the university has created something special when it comes to language learning.
“Learning languages like Chinese and Arabic come with particular challenges to English natives, but the faculty inspire the students to embrace the learning process,” he said. “Our record-breaking numbers come down to the hard work of our students and of our faculty.”
Besides talented students and faculty, the UM program also benefits from exceptional institutional support, Zeng said.
“This combination sets our program apart from others in the Flagship community,” she said.
By Marvis Herring
