Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship

Program Administration Webinar

Welcome to the FLAS Administration Webinar Why? Reconnect and Review Who? Self-introductions of Presenters: Cheryl Gibbs, Tanyelle Richardson, Dr. Tim

Duvall, and Dr. Loveen Bains Introduce new IFLE staff member, Dr. Stephanie McKissic What? Presentation Components

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TYPES OF FELLOWSHIPS

Academic Year Fellowships (AY)

Summer Fellowships (S)

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Fellowship Amounts (AY) AY Graduate Fellowships – $33,000 per academic year• $18,000 for institutional payment • $ 15,000 for stipend allowance

AY Undergraduate Fellowships– $15,000 per academic year • $ 10,000 for institutional payment • $ 5,000 for stipend allowance

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Fellowship Amounts (S) S Fellowships– $7,500 per summer $5,000 Institutional Payment (tuition and fees) $2,500 Subsistence Allowance (stipend)

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Institutional Payment vs. Subsistence Allowance Institutional payment (tuition and fees) Subsistence allowance (stipend)

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Undergraduate Summer

Graduate Summer Undergraduate Academic Year

Graduate Academic Year

Institutional Payment (tuition and fees)

$5,000 $5,000 $10,000 $18,000

Stipend $2,500 $2,500 $5,000 $15,000

Total $7,500 $7,500 $15,000 $33,000

Eligibility Requirements—All Fellowship Recipients Must be a citizen or national of the U.S. or a

permanent resident of the U.S. Must be accepted for enrollment or enrolled in

a FLAS-granting institution and in a program combining modern foreign language training with area/international studies or research and training in the international aspects of professional and other fields of study

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Eligibility Requirements—All Fellowship Recipients (continued)

Must show potential for high academic achievement (based on GPA, class ranking, or similar measures that institution determines)

Must be enrolled in a program of modern foreign language training in a language for which the institution has developed or is developing performance-based instruction

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Eligibility Requirements—Undergraduate Fellowship Recipients

Must be in the intermediate or advanced study of a less commonly taught language

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Eligibility Requirements—Graduate Fellowship Recipients

Engaged in -- Predissertation level studyPreparation for dissertation researchDissertation research abroad, orDissertation writing

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Overseas Program Requests (OPR) —Academic Year Graduate and undergraduate fellowships may be

awarded for academic year overseas programs, but

Undergraduates must be at the advanced or intermediate level of study in a less commonly taught language, and

All fellows must enroll in one language course and one area/international studies course per semester

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Overseas Program Requests—Summer

Overseas Program Requests (OPRs) must be submitted in a timely fashion early enough to allow the IFLE program officer to consider the request to ensure that the overseas program meets program requirements (i.e., at least 30 days before the travel date)

Overseas programs must include at least six weeks of instruction and at least 120 contact

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hours of language instruction for advanced level language courses and at least 140 contact hours of language instruction for beginning and intermediate level language courses

The instruction must be performance-based (i.e., for credit or certification and with testing and grading)

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Overseas Program Requests—Summer (continued)

FLAS granting institutions may consider fellowship applications from students from non-FLAS granting institutions

If students receive fellowships, however, they must enroll as a student in the FLAS granting institution and the institution must include the student in its report

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Dissertation Research Abroad Requests

Academic Year only Student must be affiliated with an institution

of higher education or similar entity in the host country

Student must submit a justification for the research project and have it approved by the IFLE program officer

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Travel Approval Requests To attend approved overseas language

programs during the summer Must be submitted only if a travel award is

being given to the student traveling Must be submitted 30 days before the

outgoing travel date to allow adequate time for review, revision, and approval

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Travel Approval Requests—Fly America Act Travel using grant funds must comply with the

Fly America Act, which mandates that travelers use American carriers wherever possible

You must familiarize yourself with this law and indicate that the travel complies with it when you submit your Travel Approval Request

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Travel Approval Requests—Timing Restrictions

If travel funding is applied for a student (a travel award), then IFLE will place restrictions on when students travel and return from their summer programs

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Language Approval Requests—One-time Requests For students who want to study a language that

is not offered on a continual basis Language must have direct relevance to the

student’s academic plan Instruction must be performance-based from a

qualified instructor with experience in teaching, language pedagogy, and assessment

Language approval request must include evidence of the above

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Language Approval Requests—Remainder of the Project Requests

For students who want to study a language that is taught at the FLAS granting institution at more than one level

Institution must demonstrate that it has the relevant language instruction capabilities and that they will be maintained for the duration of the grant cycle

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Pre- and Post-Instructor Evaluations

Administered by same instructor Submitting a report – do not wait for a late

evaluation

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Independent Study Requests Must be approved by Program Officer on case

by case basis In the request, include:– Professor curriculum vitae (CV)– Syllabus– Justification for independent study

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FLAS Fellow Reports - Top 12 issues Fellows do not provide entire course load No indication of which courses are language or

area studies courses Enter course listing instead of full title Enter N/A (not applicable) for a course title Enter P/F (pass/fail) grades without explanation Enter zero credits without explanation

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FLAS Fellow Reports - Top 12 issues Enter area studies courses in summer reports Enter audit as a grade No details about their summer overseas language

programs Ongoing fellow support during fellowship Centers are not widely publicizing competition

opportunities Centers are not providing sufficient, if any,

networking opportunities

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Sources that Inform FLAS Fellowships Technical Assistance Legislation: Title VI, International Education Programs, Part A,

International and Foreign Language Studies, sections 601 and 602 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended

Program Specific Regulations: 34 Code of Federal Regulations, part 657

The Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)

Attachment Z to the FLAS Grant Award Notification (84.015B)

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Sources of Information (continued)

OMB Circular A-21: Cost Principles for Educational Institutions

Federal Register (FR) Notices EXAMPLE: Summer travel awards: FR; vol.

67; no. 187; Thursday, September 26, 2002 The U.S./ED Office of the General Counsel

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Sources of Information (continued)

Guidance, based on interpretation of program regulations

Example: Actual grades, rather than Pass or Fail, is guidance based on the interpretation of section 657.3 (2)(c) of the regulations, Who is eligible to receive a fellowship.

“Shows potential for high academic achievement, based on such indices as grade point average,

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Sources of Information (continued)

class rankings, or similar measures that the institution may determine.”

Note: Regulations are rules of general application that are established through the notice and comment rulemaking process. Agency rulemaking is governed by the Administrative Procedures Act. Guidance explains what the rules require.

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Program Administration Manual (“PAM”) Is a compilation of the sources mentioned

above. What you need to know about “PAM”PAM does not always speak clearlyPAM is not comprehensivePAM means wellPAM is scheduled for an extreme makeover

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs 1. Student is awarded an AY FLAS for Chinese and after the first semester

decides that he/she wants to study Japanese. Can the student take Japanese for the second semester? No. The student competed for and received the fellowship for Chinese, and therefore, cannot switch the language for which the fellowship was awarded. The student either continues in the Chinese course or forfeits the FLAS for the second semester.

2. Student receives a failing grade. Is re-payment of the FLAS required? It depends on the circumstances. If the failing grade is due to illness or other extenuating crises, then the student should not burdened with re-payment. If, however, the failing grade is due to not taking the FLAS fellowship training seriously and responsibly, then full re-payment is required. Discuss these issues with your IFLE program officer.

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs 3. We cannot get the student to submit a performance report, despite our

efforts? Submit the institutional report in IRIS and notate that you tried. IFLE also advises that you should inform your students via your FLAS competition announcements, FLAS award acceptance letters, etc., that if they receive FLAS fellowships, they are required to submit performance reports as a condition of their fellowships. Further, let them know that they will not be allowed to apply for fellowships in the future, if they do not fulfill the U.S./ED reporting requirements.

4. What if the student declines the FLAS fellowship or withdraws from the program? If this occurs early in the fellowship award period, you can offer the fellowship to an alternate on FLAS selection committee’s list or conduct another competition to select another highly-qualified student who meets the eligibility requirements in section 657.3. Note: If unused AY funds are created by the declined FLAS or withdrawal from the program, and it’s not possible to select another AY fellow, you should use the unused AY funds to support additional summer fellowships.

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs Reference: Section 657.32 (d)“Funds not used by one recipient for reasons of

withdrawal are to be used for alternate recipients to the extent that funds are available for a full subsistence allowance.”

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs Reference: section 657.30 (b) “If a fellow vacates a fellowship before the end

of an award period, the institution to which the fellowship is allocated may award the balance of the fellowship to another student if—(1) the student meets the eligibility requirements in 657.3; and (2) the remaining fellowship period comprises at least one

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs

full academic quarter, semester, trimester, or summer session as described in paragraph

(a)(2) of this section.

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs 5. Student notifies you after the first week, that the overseas

language program does not measure up to what it claimed. Try to identify another overseas program and negotiate with the program sponsor to accept the student. If this is not possible, and there is a domestic summer intensive program available, advise the student to return to the States and enroll in the domestic summer program.

6. Student leaves the overseas program and does not notify you until much later, if at all. This speaks more to irresponsible behavior and less to the extenuating circumstances in scenario number 2. In this case, the student must repay the summer fellowship amount in full. This scenario also underscores the necessity for FLAS Coordinators to keep in touch with FLAS fellows during the summer so that this situation is avoided.

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs 7. We have unused AY 12 FLAS funds. Can we automatically use the funds

for AY 2013 fellowships? Not automatically. Centers should first use the unused funds to make additional summer 2013 fellowships. IFLE advises this because, to the extent possible, fellowships should be used in the budget period for which they were allocated, i.e., FY 2012.

If you are unable to expend the unused funds in the current fiscal year,

you may notify IFLE of the need to carry the funds over, per the provisions in Attachment Z to the FLAS grant award notification (GAN).

8. If an Undergraduate student wants to take the beginning level of a language? An Undergraduate student at the beginning level of a language is not eligible to receive a FLAS fellowship. Section 657.3(2)(e) stipulates that an Undergraduate student must be at the Intermediate or Advanced study of a less commonly taught language.

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs 9. A Graduate student wants to take the beginning level of

a language? This is allowable and usually occurs when the Graduate student wants to take the beginning level of another language related to his area expertise and research. For example, the student is proficient in Chinese and wants to take beginning Japanese.

10. We said we would award Undergraduate fellowships but we did not have high-quality applications? Notify your IFLE program officer as a FYI. You may then use the funds to create additional Graduate fellowships.

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs 11. Lodging, e.g., $700, is included in the $5000 “fees”

payment for a summer overseas language program. Shall we still give the FLAS fellow a $2,500 stipend? No. You should deduct the $700 and give the student $1800, to avoid duplicative payment.

12. A student wants to take a single course to satisfy both the area studies/international studies course and the language course requirement. This is not allowed. Section 657.1(b) states that fellowships are awarded to students who are enrolled in performance-based modern foreign language training and area studies, international studies, or the international aspects of professional studies.

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FLAS Administration: What Ifs 13. A Center for Southeast Asia FLAS student

wants to take beginning Dutch to enhance his capacity to conduct research on Indonesian colonial history. Can we request to add Dutch as a FLAS eligible language on a one-time basis for this particular student? Yes. Dutch is relevant to this FLAS student’s training as an expert on Southeast Asia.

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FLAS Administration: Why Can’t We? Give a travel award to an AY FLAS recipient?

Per a FR notice in 2002, the FLAS program only allows travel awards in conjunction with summer fellowships. REF: Slide 26

Use NRC funds to stretch our FLAS funds?The NRC grant and the FLAS grant are funded under two different

(and separate) CFDA’s (Code of Federal and Domestic Assistance) numbers. The funds for NRC activities (84.015A) and the funds for FLAS fellowships (84.015B) cannot be co-mingled.

Meet the GPA Language Program participant quota with FLAS students? Institutions compete for and receive GPA grants on the basis that they will meet a specified number of GPA participant slots, and the U.S./ED grantee institutions accountable for meeting this quota. GPA grantee institutions may accept FLAS students only after they have met their required GPA participant slots.

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What’s Next? FLAS Tracking Webinars (Friday, January 25

and Wednesday, January 29, 2013. Presenters: Tim Duvall and Amy Wilson

Update about the FY 2014 NRC/FLAS Competition

Save the Date: 2013 Technical Assistance Workshop, September 22–24, 2013

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THANK YOUQuestions

and Discussion