Greetings from the Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute, where we are approaching the end of this year's 8-week program of Kazakh, Tajik, and Uyghur intensive language instruction. It's been an eventful few weeks that included a visit with our Kazakh class by Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United States Yerzhan Ashikbayev; a virtual talk on the similarities and differences between Dari, Persian, and Tajik featuring CESSI instructor Mekhriniso Rakhmatova among others; the fifth annual LCTL Career Fair; workshops and office hours with CIA recruiters; and the third in our CESSI 2024 Lecture Series. Below is a snapshot of some of these events as well as previews of events and opportunities on the horizon.

Top row: Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United States Yerzhan Ashikbayev met with CESSI Kazakh instructor Gulnara Glowacki and students Avery and Sonia during a visit to UW-Madison on July 17. Bottom row: Career USAID Foreign Service Officer John Riordan was the featured speaker in this week's CESSI 2024 Lecture Series. For more pictures and information, see our Facebook page.

The CESSI 2024 Lecture Series presents Dr. Eric Schluessel of George Washington University. His lecture, "A Colonial Muslim History of China and the World," will explore the Tarikh-i Ḥamidi, a monument of Uyghur literature and the preeminent Muslim history of nineteenth-century Xinjiang (East Turkestan), in terms of its interaction with other Muslim and Chinese sources and as a colonial, transcultural text that advances insightful observations of Chinese power and new ideas about its workings.

Title VIII programs are fully funded opportunities to conduct research and language training abroad for three to nine months. Research and training can be conducted in the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. For more information and to apply, see www.studyabroad.americancouncils.org/research-abroad

Established in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program is a nationally competitive fellowship that offers early career leaders immersive, professional experiences in Asia. The program aims to forge stronger, more informed, more compassionate relationships across geographic borders by creating opportunities for young Americans across diverse sectors and interests to deepen their ties and understanding of the countries, cultures, and people of Asia. The program is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are graduating seniors, recent graduates, or young professionals and who have had limited exposure to Asia.

Application Deadline: October 1, 2024. To learn more about the Luce Scholars Program and register for an upcoming webinar, please visit https://go.wisc.edu/luce

The fifth annual Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTL) Career Fair hosted by the Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes (WISLI) of the Language Program Office connected hundreds of language learners with diverse leaders and experts across sectors. Read the recap by the International Division here.

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CESSI Tajik student Jacob Aehl, who previously studied Kazakh at CESSI, is among this summer's LCTL learners featured in this article by the International Division about WISLI.

The Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute was founded in 2011 by a consortium of international and area studies centers at major U.S. universities. We're grateful for the support of these current consortium member institutions: Columbia University's Harriman Institute, Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian & Eurasian Studies, Michigan State University's Asian Studies Center and Center for European, Russian, & Eurasian Studies, The Ohio State University's East Asian Studies Center and Center for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Stanford University's Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of California-Berkeley's Institute of Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, and Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, University of Kansas' Center for East Asian Studies and Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, University of Washington's Center for Global Studies and East Asia Center, and University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Russia, East Europe, & Central Asia and Center for East Asian Studies.