Grace Benton, an International Studies major with a regional concentration in the Middle East and minors in Spanish and Arabic, has been awarded a 2011 Department of State Critical Languages Scholarship to study advanced Arabic in Jordan. Grace Benton is in the University Honors Program at UAB. In addition, in 2010 Grace was selected as UAB’s first William Jefferson Clinton Scholar for a semester’s study at the American University in Dubai. Grace plans to complete a Master of Arts in Arab Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Upon graduation, she hopes to work with an organization such as AMIDEAST in the Levant developing education programs at the high school and university levels which promote understanding between the West and the Arab world.