PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — French and Arabic are two of the most widely spoken languages in the world, used in more than 100 countries. For rising Brown University senior Nigel Evans, who studies both, the languages represent a key that can open doors to connections across the globe.
This summer, Evans is learning Arabic through CLS Spark, a language-immersion course sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s competitive Critical Language Scholarship program. The eight-week online program, which runs from June 16 to Aug. 15, includes daily language instruction and cultural components focused on Egypt, where the host institution is based.
“One week, we learned about traditional coffee making, and another was spent on the history of Alexandria, Egypt,” Evans said. “I really enjoy it — it puts our language learning into context and breaks up the traditional structure.”
It isn’t the first time the 30-year-old has gone all-in on learning a new language. Just last summer, he spent seven weeks speaking only French at an intensive summer language program in at Middlebury College in Vermont.
A U.S. Army reservist who is concentrating in psychology and international and public affairs at Brown, Evans said these deep learning experiences echo his military background, where immersion in unfamiliar places, roles and situations is the norm.
“You get your training, but then you’re just thrown into the real world,” he said. “I’m used to it, and I want to continue to have those types of experiences. I feel it makes me a better, more knowledgeable person.”
Originally from Atlanta, Evans joined the U.S. Army in 2014, motivated by a deep desire to travel internationally. His first assignment at age 19 took him to South Korea, followed by assignments in upstate New York and Germany, which gave him the opportunity to travel across Europe. In Germany, he worked as an investigator in the U.S Army Criminal Investigation Division, handling cases involving drug and sex crimes, and financial fraud. It was his most impactful assignment in his seven years of active-duty service, he said.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and travel was severely restricted, Evans transferred to the Army Reserves and enrolled at Cornell University. After a semester, he transferred to Brown in 2021, drawn to the University’s support for veterans and nontraditional students. A military mobilization during his junior year required him to take a yearlong leave of absence, and he returned to Brown’s campus in Fall 2024.
Evans says his decade of military service sparked a curiosity about human behavior and decision-making that planted the seeds for future study in psychology, along with a passion for international affairs and geopolitics in a rapidly shifting world — a topic he delved into last fall in Professor of Sociology Michael Kennedy’s course, Power, Knowledge and Justice in Global Social Change.
“It was the perfect time to take it,” Evans said. “Even Professor Kennedy acknowledged that it was one of the most memorable classes he’s taught. Geopolitically, so much happened that semester. It was very influential.”