NORMAN – University of Oklahoma senior Barrett Shelley of Edmond, a 2015 Boren Award for International Study recipient, has been named one of 10 Arabic language winners of the 2015 Many Languages, One World International Essay Contest, organized by ELS Educational Services Inc. and the United Nations Academic Impact.

The purpose of the essay contest was to relate to the United Nations post-2015 global development agenda, in the context of the 70th anniversary of the United Nations. Students from across the world submitted essays on the subject.

Shelley, a member of the Arabic Language Flagship at OU, is pursuing majors in Arabic Languages and Literatures; Spanish; and Sociology. He currently is studying a year abroad in Meknes, Morocco, at the Arab American Language Institute and the Université Moulay Ismail. In 2014, he participated in an intensive language program in Amman, Jordan. After this year abroad, Shelley plans to pursue graduate degrees in law and Near Eastern studies and then begin a career as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. His ultimate goal is to work in North Africa, specifically Morocco and Algeria.