The Iris Burton Bulls Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Fellowship Program supports a select group of ROTC cadets and midshipmen participating in National Security Education Program initiatives to incorporate language, regional expertise, and culture training as a key aspect of their leadership roles. The Iris Burton Bulls ROTC Fellowship Program is named after the late Army Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Iris Burton Bulls in recognition for her outstanding contributions to the Department. Colonel Bulls served on the Defense Language Transformation Team, which developed the plan to build foreign language capabilities of strategic interest to DoD and build a language competent society for the United States. Her work on Defense Language Transformation resulted in the Secretary of Defense publishing the comprehensive Defense Language Transformation Roadmap that guided the development of language capacity throughout the Department. Colonel Bulls helped found the Defense Language Office in 2006 and helped lead DLNSEO in 2012 as the founding Deputy Director. She played a key role in supporting the development of the innovative ROTC Project Global Officer (GO) program to create a future officer cadre with language, regional expertise, and culture skills. The Iris Burton Bulls ROTC Fellowship Program is intended to honor Colonel Bulls’ life-long service and her commitment to language and culture training by building a community of ROTC alumni from the suite of National Security Education Programs who demonstrate interest in and commitment to understanding regions and cultures through intensive language study. Eligibility and Selection: Each year, approximately 5-6 talented ROTC participants will be nominated by program directors or campus ROTC commanders for selection following the participant’s completion of either the Project GO, Boren, or the Language Flagship programs. The first cohort of Fellows will come to Washington, DC in June 2023 for a one-day national security seminar at George Washington University followed by a day of professional mentoring meetings with DoD senior leadership, Service Senior Language Authorities, and members of military language communities. In keeping with Colonel Bulls’ deep commitment to leader development, the first cohort of Fellows will serve as mentors to the next class of Fellows in 2024.
Schedule: FY 2023 – Applications are currently closed.
FY 2024 – Applications for summer 2024 will open on December 1, 2023.
For More Information: Please email NSEPfellowship@iie.org for information about the program.