Ryan Mills, a 2019 graduate with a BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures, has been awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study critical languages during the summer of 2019.

            He is one of two U of I undergraduates to be so honored, and in just eight weeks will study a year’s worth of advanced Mandarin at the Dalian University of Technology in China.

            Mills, a 2015 graduate of Champaign Central High School and transfer student from Parkland College, double-majored in EALC and global studies.

The program also provides opportunities for cultural exploration through the arts, athletics and excursions in the region. Mills will live with a host family and adhere to a language policy that requires scholarship recipients to speak only Chinese during program activities.

“I also want to share my Ecuadorian-American background with the people of China and show them that the United States is a diverse country with people from diverse backgrounds,” Mills said.

At Illinois, Mills was a course facilitator who helped transfer students make the transition to the university. After fulfilling the scholarship, he plans to work for a multinational corporation with connections and business interests in China.

The Critical Language Scholarship program provides full scholarships to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to spend eight to 10 weeks abroad studying one of 15 languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish or Urdu. The program includes intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains. Scholars are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their language skills in their future careers.