DHARAMSHALA: Ms Tenzin Seldon, a senior at Stanford University majoring in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, has become the first Tibetan student to win the Rhodes Scholarship, which is widely considered the world's most prestigious scholarship.
Tenzin has been elected among thirty-two young American Rhodes scholars to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. She plans to do the M.Sc. in refugee and forced migration studies and the M.Sc. in modern Chinese studies at Oxford.
Tenzin, who earlier this year was awarded the Truman Scholarship, after hearing the news attributed the honour to the “unconditional love, faith, and support” from her mentors, friends, and family members, Phayul.com reported.
"It serves as a reminder of how far Tibetans in the United States have progressed in just one generation. I will leverage this amazing opportunity to create a significant impact for the cause of Tibet and human rights around the globe," Tenzin said.
As a fellow at the Stanford School of Medicine's Center for Compassion, Tenzin hosted a dialogue with the Dalai Lama and Chinese students in 2010 and created a critical thinking program for Tibetan refugee children. She is involved in interfaith dialogue and is a student coordinator for President Obama’s Interfaith Challenge.
The Rhodes scholarship, established in 1902 to honour the will and bequest of Cecil J. Rhodes, provides full financial support for Rhodes Scholars to pursue a degree or degrees at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Announcing the election of the 2102 Rhodes Scholars on 19 November, Mr Elliot F. Gerson, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, said: "Rhodes Scholars are chosen not only for their outstanding scholarly achievements, but for their character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead."
The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England. Mr Gerson estimates that the total value of the Scholarship averages approximately US$50,000 per year, and up to as much as US$200,000 for Scholars who remain at Oxford for four years in certain departments.
Notable alumni of Rhodes Scholarship include Howard Florey, Australian pharmacologist and winner of Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1945 (for penicillin; former US president Bill Clinton; Montek Singh Ahluwalia, India's incumbent deputy planning commissioner, Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times reporter and columnist, and 2-time Pulitzer Prize winner among a galaxy of eminent world's politicians, academicians and sports personalities
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