CLS Info Session

Join the Russian Flagship Program to learn more about fully-funded intensive summer language study through the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program. Register here.

With the goal of broadening the base of Americans studying and mastering critical languages and to build relationships between the people of the United States and other countries, CLS provides fully-funded intensive language study during the summer to a diverse group of students from across the United States at every level of language learning. CLS is open to undergraduate (including graduating seniors) and graduate students.

Jay Ritch, a CLS Advisor, will be joining to share more information on the program requirements and application process. The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program. Students spend eight to ten weeks abroad studying one of 15 critical languages.

Jay has an M.A. in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and B.A.s in German, Persian, and Linguistics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Jay was the Program Coordinator for the Persian Flagship Program for two years and a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at the American Space in Bokhtar, Tajikistan. Jay is an alum of the Persian CLS program and served as the Resident Director in Dushanbe for two years.