Sophomore Lilian Branch has been awarded a 2025 Critical Language Scholarship. The Critical Language Scholarship Program (CLS), a program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), provides fully funded immersive summer programs for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to learn languages of strategic importance to the United States’ national security, economic prosperity, and engagement with the world. Lilian is among approximately 500 recipients selected nationwide from a pool of more than 5000 applicants. 

This is Lilian’s second consecutive Critical Language Scholarship award to study Chinese in Taiwan. The daughter of Gwen and Clint Branch of Chattanooga, Tennesse, she has majors in Biology and Chinese and is a member of the Chinese Flagship Program at WKU. Lilian works in Dr. Joseph Marquardt’s lab studying how cells regulate their shapes, research that has broad implications for cancer prevention and treatment of fungal infection, among other applications. After completing her Flagship Capstone Year, Lilian plans to pursue a career in research, using her language skills to collaborate with scientists internationally to address issues of shared concern like antibiotic resistance and emerging infectious diseases. 

Lilian looks forward to returning to Taiwan in the ambassadorial role that distinguishes ECA programs like CLS. “Studying abroad through CLS not only allowed me to significantly improve my language skills but provided me the opportunity to learn about Taiwanese culture and interact with the local people,” she said. “I am extremely grateful to have been selected again for this award, and I could not have done it without the support from OSD.”  

Critical Language Scholarship recipients spend eight to ten weeks abroad in intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment designed to promote rapid language gains and cultural proficiency in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, or Urdu. CLS Spark, a separate initiative of the CLS program, provides opportunities to study Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Russian virtually at the beginning level. Students interested in these programs should contact osd@wku.edu for more information. 

About the Office of Scholar Development: OSD mentors students applying for nationally competitive scholarships for “academic extras” such as study abroad, research, professional experience, and more. From first drafts to final submissions with multiple revisions in between, OSD helps students make more possible. By conceptualizing and revising the stories they tell in application essays and interviews, students better understand their strengths, interests, and purpose—and explore multiple possible pathways to that work. 

Contact: Melinda Grimsley