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The Graduate Program in
International Political Economy and Development

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Summer 2005 - Language Immersion Study Awards

For summer 2005, the IPED Program awarded four Language Immersion Study Awards (LISA) to Ms. Rithika Mukerjee, Mr. Eric Van Leeuwen, Ms. Emily Getman and Ms. Maria Victoria Abreu Malla. Fordham gave funding to these students so they could travel overseas and attend an intensive language immersion program.

Both Ms. Getman and Ms. Abreu traveled to the city of Recife in the Northeast of Brazil to learn Portuguese.  There they received individualized lessons while living with Brazilian speaking host families.  They also had the opportunity to interact with the local staff of Catholic Relief Services and visit various development projects.

Mr. Van Leeuwen traveled to Costa Rica, while Ms. Mukerjee traveled to Cuzco, Peru to study Spanish.  Both of them also lived with Spanish speaking host families.

Ms. Mukerjee language class (first on the left) spent many hours studying Spanish in very small intensive language classes in Cuzco, Peru.

In addition to her Portuguese language studies and her home stay, Ms. Abreuhost family had the opportunity to visit some agricultural development projects in the interior of Northeast Brazil.

Each year up to four IPED students are awarded LISA Scholarships on a competitive basis. Scholarship recipients are able to spend the summer after the completion of their first year of study in an intensive overseas language immersion program that must include a home stay. Foreign language proficiency is frequently required for various career paths.

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