NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

4/27/2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - Nicolas Reves, a graduating senior in the Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University, has been selected as a recipient of a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship for participation in the Arabic program in Amman, Jordan from June 13 to August 21.

Reves, who is from Baton Rouge, was one of 150 accepted for the program out of more than 3,300 applicants.

The Critical Language Scholarships are part of the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), a coordinated federal effort designed to increase the number of Americans learning and teaching critical need foreign languages.

"I decided to pursue the scholarship for a number of personal, academic, and professional reasons," said Reves. "I'm fascinated by the rich culture and history of the Middle East, which I feel is mischaracterized in the American public as a backward cesspool of violence. For me, a reading and speaking knowledge of Arabic would both allow me to more fully experience and understand this great, ancient culture, as well as greatly broaden my horizons for a career in either academia or national security."

Reves said the training would help him gain proficiency in a foreign language which is a graduation requirement for a Masters of International affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M where he will be attending.

According to Reves, studying Arabic would help him pursue one of two career options. One option would be expanding his undergraduate honors thesis, a study of the competing British perceptions of the 1920 Iraq revolt, by drawing upon the wealth of Arabic histories, memoirs, and even poetry, none of which have yet been translated into English. He would pursue the option while pursuing a doctorate at the Department of War Studies at Kings College, London. Reves would write the first proper history of the revolt for his dissertation.

His other option is to go directly into government service after completing his master's. Reves believes a knowledge of Arabic combined with the courses on intelligence taught at the Bush School would prepare him for intelligence work as an analyst for either the CIA or the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

Earlier this month, Reves was chosen as a recipient of NSU's Phi Kappa Phi Student Research Award.

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