EHLS Program Celebrates 10 Years

June 16, 2015—Tomorrow evening (June 17), the English for Heritage Language Speakers Program (EHLS) will host a reception from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in the Healey Family Student Center to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

EHLS is an initiative of the National Security Education Program (NSEP). The program is funded by the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO), managed by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), with curriculum and instruction developed and provided by Georgetown’s Center for Language Education and Development (special programs unit).

The EHLS program provides scholarships to naturalized U.S. citizens with professional-level proficiency in critical languages, and provides training leading to professional-level proficiency in English language and federal workplace job skills. Each EHLS scholar produces an open-source analysis report as the capstone project, with topics and mentors provided by U.S. government organizations—research is conducted in English and the critical language. Scholars develop professional briefing papers and formal symposium presentations in which they present the results of their research.

After Dean Gillis offers opening remarks, tomorrow’s event will feature a number of speakers, including Dr. Michael Nugent, Director of Defense Language and National Security Education Office, Daniel Feehan, Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense Readiness, Ambassador Tim Roemer, and Congressman Rush Holt. Roemer and Holt authored the legislation that created the EHLS program; they will speak about the importance of language proficiency in the federal service.

The event will also feature CAL’s Deborah Kennedy and Georgetown’s Christa Hansen, who will discuss the nature and outcomes of the EHLS program. In addition, 2013 EHLS Scholar and President of the Boren Forum Yenal Küçüker will present on how EHLS graduates participate in federal service.

For more information, contact Christa Hansen: clh38@georgetown.edu.