BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) -Western Kentucky University sophomore Lilian Branch has been awarded a 2025 Critical Language Scholarship.
She is among 500 recipients selected nationwide from a pool of more than 5000 applicants.
The Critical Language Scholarship Program (CLS), a program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), provides fully funded immersive summer programs for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to learn languages of strategic importance to the United States’ national security, economic prosperity, and engagement with the world.
WHO IS LILIAN BRANCH:
According to the Office of Scholar Development, this is Branch’s second consecutive Critical Language Scholarship award to study Chinese in Taiwan.
The daughter of Gwen and Clint Branch of Tennessee, she majors in Biology and Chinese and is a member of the Chinese Flagship Program at WKU.
The sophomore works in Dr. Joseph Marquardt’s lab studying how cells regulate their shapes, research that has broad implications for cancer prevention and treatment of fungal infection, among other applications. After completing her Flagship Capstone Year, she plans to pursue a research career, using her language skills to collaborate with scientists internationally to address issues of shared concern like antibiotic resistance and emerging infectious diseases.
Branch said she looks forward to returning to Taiwan in the ambassadorial role that distinguishes ECA programs like CLS.
“Studying abroad through CLS not only allowed me to significantly improve my language skills but provided me the opportunity to learn about Taiwanese culture and interact with the local people,” she said in a release. “I am extremely grateful to have been selected again for this award, and I could not have done it without the support from OSD.”
CRITICAL LANGUAGE SCHOLARSHIP:
Critical Language Scholarship recipients spend eight to ten weeks abroad in intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment designed to promote rapid language gains and cultural proficiency in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, or Urdu.
CLS Spark, a separate initiative of the CLS program, provides opportunities to study Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Russian virtually at the beginning level.
Students interested in these programs should contact osd@wku.edu for more information.
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