Boren Scholarships, named for David L. Boren, OU’s 13th president and a former Oklahoma governor and U.S. senator, focus on geographic areas, languages and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security. The awards provide up to $20,000 in funding to undergraduates students to study abroad.
DeFilippis, recently named a Truman Scholar, is pursuing majors in economics, political science and psychology with minors in African-American studies and math. He plans to study Swahili at the State University of Zanzibar, Tanzania, for the fall 2012 semester. Before going to Africa, he will attend an intensive language course at the University of Florida.
An Honors student, DeFilippis has received the David L. Boren Debater Scholar award; President’s Award for Outstanding Freshman, Sophomore and Junior; Carl Albert Center Leadership Award; Neustadt Student Writing Award; and Creative Writing Award. In addition, he has been named a Big Man on Campus, the Outstanding Ethics Debater, the Outstanding Honors Perspectives Student, and a Charlie and Julie Daniels Fellow with OU’s Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage. Last fall he was named a finalist for both the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships.
DeFilippis’ career plans include working for the Africa Development Foundation as a program analyst for East Africa, and eventually creating a development institution to spur economic growth in Africa.
Roberts, an international security studies major with a focus on the Middle East, is a member of the Arabic Flagship Program. He plans to spend the next academic year at the Language Flagship, University of Alexandria, Egypt, and study Arabic. His career goal is to work for the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Service Officer.
A member of the Student Advisory Council for the College of International Studies, Roberts also was accepted into the American Councils Arabic Flagship Overseas Program and was a member of the 2008 President’s Leadership Class. He has studied abroad in Egypt and Yemen, and has visited Jordan twice, including as an English teacher last summer.
