This summer three Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellows traveled to Vancouver Island for intensive study of the First Nations language, Nuu-chah-nulth. A total of four UW graduate students were awarded summer FLAS fellowships for the study of an Indigenous language spoken in Canada. One fellow, Ric Berkholtz, School of Law, studied Haida with

Originally from Toronto, Canada, I completed my undergraduate degree at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. My past experience was focused on projects in marine ecology and conservation as I worked in Southern California Fisheries management and kelp forest/ intertidal restoration. Currently, I am about to finish a Master’s degree at the UW School of

Samantha Farquhar was awarded a U.S. Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad to research fisheries and food insecurity in Nunavik, Canada. Samantha Farquhar was awarded two Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships to study French by the Canadian Studies Center for the Summer of 2018 and the 2018-19 academic year. She graduated

Earlier this month the Title VI Centers in the Jackson School hosted a reception to celebrate the current FLAS fellows including a presentation partially delivered in Nuu-chah-nulth. The 1st Annual Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Reception was held on January 6th at the University of Washington to celebrate the Summer 2022 and 2022-23 academic

Learning Nuu-chah-nulth (NCN) and visiting Port Alberni was some of the most fun I’ve had over the summer. Some highlights included: watching Dr. Charlotte Coté (now my new auntie) poke around at starfish when we visited the Broken Islands, to nature walks where we learned the names of plants and creatures in NCN, to relaxing

As a Haida woman and a doctoral student at the University of Washington (UW), I have spent countless hours exploring the campus but I have never connected with my learning environment so profoundly as I did with my Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Xaad Kíl (Haida language) class. I am a member of the

Robyn Long was a FLAS Fellow for French in the 2021-22 academic year while completing her Master of Social Work. As part of the Social Work program, she completed a practicum with the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Canada office that involved supporting staff participating in the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group. Her primary project focused

Caroline Humphreys is a FLAS Fellow (French) with Canadian Studies Center, a law student at the UW’s School of law, and a member of the Washington Law Review. Outside of UW, Caroline is the Special Projects Director of Arctic Encounter, an Alaska-based nonprofit organization that hosts Arctic-focused business and policy convenings. She is also a Research Associate with The Arctic

Ellen Ahlness, three-time recipient of a FLAS fellowship in the Inuit language, was awarded a doctorate in Political Science in August 2021. Her dissertation examines the political engagement of the Indigenous Permanent Participants in the Arctic Council. While the Permanent Participants received global attention in 1996 when they became the first Indigenous members of an international

Lindsey Popkin just graduated with her master’s degree from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs in June 2021. In her final year she also studied Nuu-chah-nulth, a First Nations language spoken on Vancouver Island with funding from a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship through Canadian Studies. Her research focused on Indigenizing sea otter