Elmhurst U. student wins Critical Language Scholarship to study Arabic

Starting this month, Elmhurst University student Mikala Marcussen-Abuharb will take part in an intensive scholarship program to study Arabic language and culture, enabling her to meet personal and professional goals while also helping to promote national interests.

Marcussen-Abuharb, a rising junior from Tinley Park, is the university’s first student to be accepted to the highly competitive Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) program. The U.S. Department of State program provides the fully funded, immersive summer program for undergraduate and graduate students to learn languages “of strategic importance to the United States’ national security, economic prosperity, and engagement with the world.”

The Critical Language Scholarship is described as the most competitive foreign language scholarship program in the country, with an acceptance rate of less than 10%.

Marcussen-Abuharb and her cohort of 20 students will cover approximately one academic year of university-level language coursework during the eight-week program, which begins on June 16. In addition to the online course, she will work one-on-one with a private language instructor to attain rapid language gains and intercultural fluency. After completing that program, Marcussen-Abuharb will become a priority candidate to participate in the CLS program in Jordan during the summer following her senior year at Elmhurst.

Marcussen-Abuharb is majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry and medical humanities at Elmhurst. Her decision to apply for the Critical Language Scholarship was based on a lifelong passion for exploring the world, as well as her career plan to become a dentist and work with Arabic speakers in her community. By increasing access to opportunities like these, Elmhurst University fosters growth-minded paths in its students, developing their sense of cultural awareness and respect, and enabling them to thrive as adaptive leaders.

After graduating from high school, Marcussen-Abuharb served in the U.S. Navy for six years as a machinist’s mate 2nd class stationed in the Middle East and South Asia. She also has traveled extensively on her own, and to date has been to 14 countries.

“My desire to learn Arabic began when I met my now-husband, a native Arabic speaker from Jordan,” she said. “We live in a predominantly Arabic-speaking area of Tinley Park, and I have witnessed the inequities in health care access created by language and cultural barriers. My goal is to become a dentist for the Arabic-speaking population, to bridge this gap.”

“I also seek fluency, to converse and better understand the culture of my new family in Jordan,” she said. “I am so grateful to receive the Critical Language Scholarship to further my Arabic proficiency.”