The Department is happy to present to you the winners of the Stephen Monaghan Scholarship for East Asian Language Studies Abroad. This is the second time the Department has conducted a competition for the Monaghan Scholarship; the first was in 2019, when we awarded one $1000 scholarship to Sara Clayton (’20) to attend UVA in Shanghai at East China Normal University.

The program was paused due to the pandemic, but Mr. Monaghan has continued to fund it, allowing us to offer larger awards to a larger group with the accumulated contributions. This year we are delighted to announce that the following four students have accepted the Monaghan Scholarship, in the amount of $2,000 each, in alphabetical order:

Julia DaSilva

Julia is a rising third year and will be studying Chinese this summer at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

Mia Kritenbrink

Mia is a rising second year who will be studying Japanese at the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies in Kyoto.

Rachel Lin

Rachel, a rising third year, will use the Monaghan Scholarship to study Chinese at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

Stepheney Odom-Thomas

Stepheney, also a rising third year, will be using her Monaghan Scholarship to attend Korea University in Seoul in spring 2024 and study Korean as an exchange student.

This second Monaghan Scholarship competition came at the end of years of pandemic, with many deserving students, eager to go to East Asia for language learning and transformative life experiences, applying. All of the applicants were excellent, and selecting only a few from among them was difficult work. I want to thank everyone who applied and, if you did not succeed this year, keep trying every opportunity you get! Study abroad is worth it!

I also want to thank our selection committee, Yoon Hwa Choi, Mieko Kawai, and Jun Wang, for their careful and considerate work evaluating the candidates.

Best wishes to our new Monaghan Scholars on your upcoming study abroad adventures!

Charles A. Laughlin
Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures