University of Maryland, College Park

The Persian Flagship Program at the University of Maryland, College Park offers two unique programs: The Persian Flagship Undergraduate Program and the Persian Flagship Graduate Program.

UMD’s Persian Flagship Programs offer a state-of-the-art language education curriculum. A variety of small size language courses, content-based instruction in sheltered courses, and content area courses on Iranian media, cinema, politics, culture, and history are offered. Students benefit from a multitude of Persian cultural events, film festivals, lectures and academic conferences that regularly take place at UMD or are organized by the sizable Iranian-American community in the greater Washington DC area. Maryland’s close proximity to DC also provides students with the option of pursuing internships with private or public organizations, enabling them to use their Persian in a diverse number of career settings.

Persian Flagship Undergraduate Program

The Persian Flagship Undergraduate Program is open to any degree-seeking student at the University of Maryland who is willing to make a serious, long-term commitment to learning Persian. The program provides a unique opportunity for students to attain professional level language proficiency (ILR 3 and above), sufficient to study or work in the language, while pursuing an undergraduate major of their choosing. The Undergraduate Program does not require study of Persian prior to arriving at UMD, however, heritage learners of Persian are welcome and encouraged to apply.

Undergraduate flagship students benefit from:

• Various levels of Persian language courses, sheltered/non-sheltered content area courses
• One intensive Persian language summer institute at UMD and/or an overseas summer immersion in Dushanbe, Tajikistan (the overseas summer is for students at Intermediate-mid or Intermediate-high level of proficiency)
• Regular individual sessions with conversation partners plus weekly group coffee chats
• A rich variety of visiting speakers, field trips, and formal and informal cultural experiences, plus a dedicated Persian study area filled with Persian multimedia resources 
• An academic year studying Persian in Dushanbe, Tajikistan with American Councils for International Education
• The unique opportunity to live at UMD’s Language House, a living-learning program.

Persian Flagship Graduate Program

The Persian Flagship Graduate Program offers a Master of Professional Studies in Persian. The program provides students with an unprecedented opportunity to develop superior-level proficiency in Persian (ILR 3 and above), sufficient to study or work in the language. Students who already possess basic functional ability* in Persian are eligible to apply. The program uses an innovative, domain-specific, task-based curriculum to bring students to a professional level of proficiency in a program that simulates immersion.

The curriculum includes:

• At least five hours a day of structured language learning
• Additional language exposure through working with conversation partners and faculty mentors
• A rich variety of visiting speakers, field trips and formal and informal cultural experiences, plus a dedicated Persian study area filled with Persian multimedia resources
• Students with Fellowships from the Institute of International Education will have an additional year of study at the American Councils for International Education language center in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Other students in the masters program are welcome and encouraged to apply to the overseas program to attain professional proficiency through participation in both the state-side and the overseas components of the program.

Graduates of the two-year Persian Flagship Graduate Program report great success in finding jobs both with the U.S. government and in the private sector using their professional language skills. Students can apply to other sources of financial support in addition to the Language Flagship Fellowships, including Boren Fellowships, funding through American Councils for the overseas phase of the program, and UMD stipends for the first year.

*Roughly ILR 1+ or better, ACTFL Intermediate High or better, or 3-4 semesters of Persian.

For more information, contact the Persian Flagship Program at UMD at:

Persian Flagship Program
3215 Jiménez Hall (Mail)
2116 Susquehanna Hall (Office)
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4821
Tel: 301.405.8252
Website: http://www.languages.umd.edu/persian/flagship/index.html
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Persian Overseas Flagship Program*

American Councils in a consortium with Bryn Mawr College

The Overseas Persian Flagship Program, administered by American Councils, is designed to address the need for greater numbers of U.S. professionals in business, government, academia, and the third sector that are able to speak, read, understand, and write Persian at the highest levels of functional proficiency. With guidance by the Persian Overseas Flagship Academic Council, summer and yearlong programs consist of regular tutorials and small group instruction combined with formal and informal professional language utilization.

Participants in the Persian Overseas Flagship Program primarily study the Iranian Persian variant of the language during their studies at the Dushanbe Language Center and Tajik State National University in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, with a smaller Tajik component to supplement the curriculum. Students attend lectures and seminars in their fields of specialization, reside with local host families, work regularly with peer tutors, and participate in internships with local NGOs, government, or businesses. Undergraduate students who have achieved Intermediate-Mid or Intermediate-High level and graduate students who have already achieved the Advanced-Mid or Advanced-High level in at least two modalities in Persian are eligible to apply for this program. Heritage speakers are also welcome to apply. Students receive academic credit for undergraduate and graduate-level courses through Bryn Mawr College or the University of Maryland. Support services include mandatory pre-departure orientation in Washington, D.C.; accident and illness insurance; a full-time U.S. resident director; and American Councils offices in Washington, D.C. and Tajikistan.

http://flagship.americancouncils.org/splash.php
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 *Administered by American Councils for International Education