Bartly Carfagno of Sherwood who graduated in December with a degree in international studies at UALR has been awarded a Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State.

Carfagno is one of 575 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students selected for the scholarship. He will study Chinese in a seven to 10-week, group-based intensive language instruction and cultural enrichment experience program in China.

The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. Selected finalists for the 2012 CLS Program hail from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. The finalists represent 239 institutions of higher education from across the United States, including public and private universities, liberal arts colleges, minority-serving institutions, and community colleges.