The application for the 2020 Summer CLS Program is now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted an application. The competition for summer 2021 will open in the Fall of 2020.
The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. Students of diverse disciplines and majors are encouraged to apply. Participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period, and later apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers.
Each summer, CLS provides rigorous academic instruction in fifteen languages essential to America’s engagement with the world. CLS participants are citizen ambassadors, sharing American values and promoting American influence abroad.
Languages Offered
Key Benefits
Develop Key Expertise
The CLS Program provides its scholars intensive language and cultural instruction in an environment designed to maximize their language gains at every level.
Career Ready Skills
Alumni apply their critical language skills in a variety of professional fields in public and private sectors as well as government, helping to support America’s competitiveness across the board.
Citizen Diplomacy
CLS scholars represent the breadth and diversity of the United States. Through personal engagement they help to spread American values and develop mutual understanding with the people of other countries.
Featured Alumni
CLS News and Stories
Alumni Profile: Erin Smith
“I never would have predicted the career I’m in today. CLS helped to put me in the circles I needed to be in for it to fall into place.”
As an undergraduate student at North Park University, Erin Smith studied music, but also chose to focus on courses on subjects that interested her...
Posted by Jessica Klink on November 19, 2019
Alumni Profile: Tara Lynch-Ornstein
“CLS equipped me with valuable experience and knowledge that I continue to use in my work every day. Participating in the CLS Program opened many doors to incredible professional opportunities that enable me to apply the experience I gained in Tajikistan to global health research and service...
Posted by Jessica Klink on November 11, 2019
Video: Host Families
Host families and roommates are one of the most important elements of the CLS Program. They help enhance students’ language acquisition and cultural adaptation, and give students the opportunity to practice speaking in a comfortable environment. More than anything, alumni describe the...
Posted by Syejeong Kim on November 06, 2019
Video: A Day in the Life of a CLS Participant
Every day on the CLS Program brings new challenges and rewards! Listen to the stories of CLS Program alumni Camille, Cheyenne, Elinor, Jacqueline and Tucker, as they talk us through a day in the life of a participant.
Posted by Syejeong Kim on November 06, 2019
CLS in the Press
Making history, learning languages
Rebecca King is the first student in University of Delaware history to receive both a Boren Award and Critical Language Scholarship.
Shared from UDaily, November 19, 2019
Domestic student profile: Anglel Trachta
University of Iowa student Angela Trachta received a Critical Language Scholarship Award to study Korean in 2019.
Shared from The University of Iowa, November 19, 2019
Building bridges from OSU to Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan might not be a familiar country to many Americans aside from, perhaps, political junkies and geography buffs, but for Oklahoma State students it will soon feel much closer.
Shared from The O'Colly, November 18, 2019