Congratulations Academic Year 2025-2026 FLAS Fellows!

The Institute for Regional and International Studies and the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s National Resource Centers (NRCs) congratulate our Academic Year 2025-2026 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellows! FLAS fellowships, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, are administered by UW-Madison’s NRCs. They assist students in acquiring foreign language and area or international studies competencies and expertise among what are known as “less commonly taught languages.” UW–Madison’s NRCs offer FLAS awards for more than 50 languages! FLAS fellowships support academic year and summer language study and have been instrumental in helping more than 900 UW–Madison students achieve their foreign language and cultural proficiency goals. Interested in learning more or applying for the FLAS award? Read this article featuring a few of our 2024-2025 FLAS fellows and visit flas.wisc.edu. Congratulations to our newest awardee cohort! Summer 2025 Jacob Aehl, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 1st Year Uyghur Victor Ajibola, African Studies Program, 3rd Year Swahili Elizabeth Birkhauser, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 1st Year Quichua Nicholas Borbely, European Studies, 3rd Year Swedish Katelyn Bowman, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 4th Year Russian Taylor Cataldi, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 2nd Year Portuguese Harry Chenault Jr, African Studies Program, 3rd Year Arabic Timothy Christensen, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 1st Year Portuguese Toluwalayomi Coker, African Studies Program, 2nd Year Yoruba Ian Danner, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 1st Year Czech Zane De Luge, IRIS NRC, 3rd Year Arabic Kiana Duncan, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1st Year Thai Nara Easum, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2nd Year Thai Richard Ellis, IRIS NRC, 2nd Year Persian Roman Fermanian, African Studies Program, 2nd Year Arabic Claudia Guske, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, Uyghur Mia Haas-Goldberg, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 3rd Year Thai Kali Hanson, IRIS NRC, 3rd Year Arabic (in Africa) Wesley Hedden, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 3rd Year Tagalog Christopher Herde, European Studies, 5th Year Arabic Hunter Hill, Center for South Asia, 2nd Year Hindi Mina House, Center for East Asian Studies, 3rd Year Chinese Sarah Hussain, Center for South Asia, 4th Year Urdu Madison Leake, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 1st Year Portuguese Marieke Lewis, IRIS NRC, 1st Year Arabic Jameson Lynch, European Studies, 4th Year Italian Caitlyn Marentette, Center for South Asia, 3rd Year Hindi Ailee Miller, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 2nd Year Russian Lisa Msuya, African Studies Program, 3rd Year Swahili Arvind Nair, Center for South Asia, 1st Year Urdu Patrick Nolan, Center for South Asia, 1st Year Nepali Robert Olbon, IRIS NRC, 2nd Year Arabic Favor Olubi, African Studies Program, 5th Year Yoruba Ade Onabule, African Studies Program, 5th Year Yoruba Isabella Palange, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 4th Year Ukrainian Kiera Parker, IRIS NRC, 2nd Year Arabic Stephen Pittman, IRIS NRC, 2nd Year Arabic Sophia Pringle, Center for East Asian Studies, 5th Year Chinese Megan Ramp, African Studies Program, 2nd Year Arabic Nathaniel Richmond, IRIS NRC, 2nd Year Arabic Noa Rickey, European Studies, 2nd Year Irish Lowell Ruck, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 1st Year Serbo-Croatian Mikaela Salvador, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 3rd Year Tagalog Anna Schiessl, IRIS NRC, 2nd Year Arabic Griffin Sherry, European Studies, 2nd Year Arabic Adam Sherwood, Center for East Asian Studies, 3rd Year Chinese Malaika Shuck, IRIS NRC, 3rd Year Arabic Andromeda Swissdorf, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 1st Year Russian Yonathan Taye, IRIS NRC, 1st Year Portuguese Ashton Thiele, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 3rd Year Russian Tyler Thom, Center for South Asia, 2nd Year Urdu John Tobin, Center for East Asian Studies, 2nd Year Japanese Aimee Trivino, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 1st Year Quichua Addin Vang, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2nd Year Hmong Hezouwe Walada, African Studies Program, 3rd Year Yoruba Lequeint Webb, African Studies Program, 2nd Year Yoruba Ethan Weisbaum, Center for South Asia, 2nd Year Urdu Ashley Whitaker, African Studies Program, 2nd Year Arabic Audrey Wilson, European Studies, 3rd Year Norwegian Lucas Wirick, Center for South Asia, 1st Year Urdu Academic Year Victor Ajibola, African Studies Program, 4th Year Swahili Katherine Alonso, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 5th Year Indonesian Sarah Amplo, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2nd Year Tagalog Francesca Angiulli, European Studies, 4th Year Italian Ian Auger, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 1st Year Yucatec Maya Chloe Bartz, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 1st Year Portuguese Adrian Beyer, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 5th Year Thai Elliott Brandsma, European Studies, 4th Year Finnish Abigail Buschette, African Studies Program, 3rd Year Luo Kaitlin Case, European Studies, 2nd Year Italian Taylor Cataldi, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 3rd Year Portuguese Samantha Cayton, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2nd Year Tagalog Ernesta Cole, African Studies Program, 3rd Year Gambian Wolof Henry Curcio, European Studies, 1st Year Arabic Ian Danner, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 1st Year Czech Rita Dinh, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2nd Year Vietnamese Kyle Dougherty, Center for South Asia, 5th Year Tibetan Erin Dowding, European Studies, 2nd Year Finnish Emily Fornof, African Studies Program, 3rd Year Fulfulde Isabella Garcia-Ippolito, European Studies, 3rd Year Italian Declan Halloran, Center for East Asian Studies, 5th Year Chinese Mina House, Center for East Asian Studies, 3rd Year Chinese Ajara Jagne, African Studies Program, 2nd Year Yoruba Olivia Kusuma, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 4th Year Indonesian Alexander Lauridsen, European Studies, 3rd Year Danish Nathan Le, Center for East Asian Studies, 2nd Year Korean Tuong-Phi Le, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 4th Year Vietnamese Katarina Leek, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 5th Year Russian Ivan Loncharich Pacheco, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 1st Year Quichua Christopher Lough, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2nd Year Vietnamese Michael McPhee, IRIS NRC, 2nd Year Persian,Arabic Suhaib Mehmood, Center for South Asia, 5th Year Urdu Arvind Nair, Center for South Asia, 2nd Year Urdu Phuong-Quyen Nguyen, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2nd Year Vietnamese Sarosh Noorani, Center for South Asia, 4th Year Urdu Michael Onabule, African Studies Program, 2nd Year Yoruba Isabella Prenger, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 4th Year Kazak Larissa Redditt, Center for East Asian Studies, 4th Year Japanese Andrew Reed, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 1st Year Russian Greta Risgin, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 4th Year Russian Ryan Rowe, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, 2nd Year Ukrainian Hanna Schuricht, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, 2nd Year Quichua Lars Shimbakuro, Center for East Asian Studies, 2nd Year Japanese Brandon Thierry, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 3rd Year Tagalog Diamond Urey, African Studies Program, 2nd Year Yoruba Catalina Valdez, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 3rd Year Tagalog Maiyia Vang, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1st Year Thai Hunter Vierck, IRIS NRC, 2nd Year Arabic Caitlin Vitale-Sullivan, European Studies, 2nd Year Finnish Roland Will, Center for East Asian Studies, Japanese Lucas Wirick, Center for South Asia, 1st Year Urdu Mina Yildiz, IRIS NRC, 5th Year Korean