Amalia Feld ’12 Awarded State Dept. Critical
Language Scholarship

by Stacey Kutish
4/15/2009

Amalia Feld '12

Swarthmore College first year student Amalia Feld is the recipient of a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship for intensive study of the Chinese language. The scholarship will allow her to participate in fully-funded summer-long Mandarin Chinese program in Su Zhou, China.

"I am particularly excited about the fact that in addition to studying the Chinese language, I will also become acquainted with contemporary Chinese social issues through coursework and special lectures," Feld says. "I hope to build upon my work this summer by pursuing a China-themed public policy internship my junior year and even a China-focused thesis my senior year."

Feld, from Kinderhook, N.Y., plans to major in economics and minor in public policy and Chinese. She has a long standing interest in Asia, having lived there as a young child. Over time her interests in the region have become focused on agricultural policy and rural development issues. "I hope to work on these issues from a legal or international development perspective," Feld says, "and believe that fluency in Chinese and familiarity with Chinese culture will prove to be invaluable resources as I engage with these topics now and in the future."