8:17 a.m., Dec. 4, 2009----Three University of Delaware students have been selected recipients of awards through the Chinese Embassy Scholarship Program and will have the opportunity to study the Chinese language at Beijing Language and Culture University and Nanjing University.

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The Chinese Embassy Scholarship Program is the most prestigious in China for studying Chinese as a second language, and covers full tuition, room and board and medical care and also provides a monthly stipend.

The scholarship recipients for 2010-11 are Wendy Jansson, an Honors Program senior with majors in foreign languages and literatures and history and a minor in religious studies; Adam Laufman, a senior with a major in international relations and a minor in Chinese; and Thien-Chan Vu, an Honors Program sophomore with majors in foreign languages and literatures and political science and a minor in religious studies.

Jianguo Chen, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures who chaired the ad hoc interdepartmental scholarship committee, said the honorees join a select group. “Since 2007,” he said, “UD's Chinese Program has successfully competed with other major research universities for the prestigious Chinese Embassy Scholarship Program. This is the fourth time our students have been awarded the scholarships.”

The previous seven scholarship award recipients from UD “have been doing very well,” Chen said, noting that two -- Ryan Lovdahl and Chris Lowder -- have been awarded a second Chinese government scholarship to study for another year because of their outstanding academic performance. Lovdahl is a 2008 UD graduate and Lowder is a junior who is majoring in East Asian Studies with minors in Chinese and Japanese.

In his letter to Jianguo Chen, who was a mentor for Lovdahl, the student had this to say: “I am now at the highest level that the BLCU College of Advanced Chinese Training has to offer. Although at first these advanced level courses were a bit of a shock, now that I've become accustomed to this next level of intensity and expectation, I'm really enjoying all of my courses. My class was recently chosen as the best out of our entire university.”

Like Lovdahl, Lowder distinguished himself in all the Chinese courses he has taken at BLCU, where he is highly evaluated by his Chinese teachers.

Lovdahl and Lowder “have won honor for the University of Delaware,” Chen said, adding, “It is very inspiring to our students of Chinese on campus. We expect this year's scholarship recipients to do just as well and wish them all the best.”

In addition to the awards of the Chinese Embassy Scholarships, UD's students were also awarded other prestigious scholarships through the U.S. Department of State and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, Freeman Foundation, and Beijing Normal University to study Chinese in China. “We are very proud of our students,” Chen said.

The scholarship committee included Jennifer Gregan-Paxton, associate professor of business administration in the Lerner College of Business and Economics; Ivan Sun, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice in the College of Arts and Sciences; Renee Dong, instructor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Jia Zhao, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in the College of Education and Public Policy.