Two Texas State students awarded prestigious Boren Fellowships

Vanessa Dempel, a graduate student in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program, and Kimberly Wong, a doctoral student studying criminal justice, have been awarded Boren Fellowships.

The Boren Awards are an initiative of the United States Department of Defense National Security Education Program, which offers fully funded (up to $30,000), long-term overseas study of less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests and national security. Boren Fellows represent a vital pool of highly motivated individuals who plan to pursue careers in the U.S. federal government.

Dempel applied to study Turkish through Boren’s Turkish Flagship Languages Initiative (TURFLI) during the 2023-2024 academic year. She is Texas State’s first Boren awardee to the TURFLI program and the second graduate student from the MPA program to receive the competitive Boren Fellowship. 

Wong applied to study Korean at Sogang University in the Republic of Korea during the 2023-2024 academic year. She is Texas State’s first Boren awardee for Korean language study. Wong is also Texas State’s first awardee from the College of Applied Arts—and the seventh graduate student at Texas State—to receive the competitive Boren Fellowship since The Graduate College started offering external funding advising services in 2016.

Demple’s and Wong’s selection as 2023 Boren Fellows marks the first time since 2017 that Texas State has had multiple Boren Fellowship awardees in a single year.