Amirah Ali-Dinar has been awarded a prestigious Boren Scholarship that will send her to Jordan next year to study Arabic. She is the first University College student enrolled in the new criminal justice program to receive the honor.
The Boren Scholarship provides U.S. undergraduate and graduate students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experiences in countries critical to the future of security and stability in the U.S. Awardees receive $20,000.
“The Boren Scholarship offered an opportunity to serve our nation’s security by educating ourselves on different cultures in efforts to effectively communicate with other nations,” said Ali-Dinar whose family has direct ties to Darfur and the Middle East. “I was born to do this.”
Following her year in Jordan, she will pursue a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Maryland and plans to pursue a career as an intelligence analyst.
Ali-Dinar is one of three NWU students this year to win the prestigious scholarship. Other winners are Victoria Rosenboom, a senior political science and mathematics major who will study in Tanzania, and Michael Sutherland, a senior political science major who will study Mandarin in China.
Nineteen NWU students have won the Boren Scholarship. Nearly 900 students in the U.S. applied for the honor this year. The three NWU students are among 165 winners.