Three
for the Rhodes
For the first
time in University history, the College can boast three Rhodes scholarship
winners in a single year.
Undergraduates
Erin Bohula, 99, and Mira Lutgendorf, 99, along with
recent graduate Maureen Dunne, AB98, AM98, were among
the 32 scholars chosen from more than 900 applicants to study at
Oxford University for two years, with tuition and living expenses
paid.
Claiming a
total of 34 Rhodes scholars, Chicago is now number 10 in the top
10 list of universities with Rhodes winners.
Once at Oxford,
Chicagos Rhodes scholars will be pursuing studies that build
on their past achievements in science, culture, and psychology.
Bohula, a biology
concentrator, has been recognized for her cancer research on controlling
cell growth and will graduate with honors in June. She is deferring
her acceptance to the Universitys Pritzker School of Medicine
to attend Oxford. I think one of the reasons I got the scholarship
was because of my experience as an assistant resident head,
says Bohula. The job has helped me understand people.
Lutgendorf
is concentrating in sociology and looks forward to studying the
relationship between cultural symbols and national identity at Oxford.
A published novelist, Lutgendorf one day hopes to form a charter
school that will emphasize international understanding.
Dunnes
previous work with autistic children has raised doubts in her mind
about the efficacy of psychological tests given to disabled children,
which she believes too often emphasize their weaknesses. At Oxford,
she hopes to work with children in laboratories with controlled
settings, instead of in their homes or at school. I want to
challenge some of the philosophical assumptions that underlie studies
of the mind, treat my subjects with care and respect, and use my
research to improve human conditions, she says.
Less than
a week after the Rhodes announcement, Elizabeth Evenson, 99,
learned she too was headed overseas, as a Marshall scholar. She
will study human rights law at the University of Nottingham, England.
President of both the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega and the
Universitys Pro-Life Association, she spent last summer in
Bosnia identifying war dead with Physicians for Human Rights.J.P.
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