The Canadian Studies Center is proud to announce that Brit Sojka, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, will be studying French this summer as part of her Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships.
As a Master’s candidate with U.W.’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, my current studies are an effort to develop the scientific and environmental management skills needed to undertake future leadership roles within the Pacific Northwest’s environmental grant-making and nonprofit community. The large-landscape preservation interests of these organizations, make Canada’s vast wilderness areas and the policies governing the natural resources they contain an important research and future career focus. However, researching and effectively working in this arena also requires sensitivity to the well-being of Canada’s citizens, heritage and cultural diversity. The Canada Centre’s FLAS fellowship presents a unique opportunity to develop this very important cultural understanding and appreciation.
This summer, with support from a Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship from the Canadian Studies Center, I will be researching Canada’s political response to cross-border interventions from foreign environmental NGO funders and, in particular, the political dimension of foreign funding related to Canadian oil development (Enbridge Pipeline/Canadian Arctic). I am also looking forward to the intensive French language studies I will be immersed in right here at the University of Washington! – from Brit Sojka
The Canadian Studies Center is a recipient of a U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships program grant. The grant provides allocations of academic year and summer fellowships to assist meritorious graduate students undergoing training in modern foreign languages and Canadian Studies. The Canadian Studies Center is extremely proud in having awarded several Fellowships in least-commonly taught Canadian Aboriginal languages including Inuktitut, Dane-zaa, Musqueam Salish, and Anishinaabemowin.