UA Students Learn About Becoming Rhodes Scholars

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Elliot Gerson, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, will be on The University of Alabama campus Monday, Oct. 18, to meet with University officials and students to discuss opportunities in the Rhodes Scholars Program.

Gerson will meet with freshmen, sophomores and juniors from the UA Honors College at 3:30-4:15 p.m. in the Ferguson Center Forum. This will be an opportunity for younger students to be introduced to the scholarship program.

Gerson, who was elected in 1997 by the Rhodes Trust in the United Kingdom to become its fifth American Secretary, is responsible for administering all aspects of the Rhodes Scholarship program in the United States. He makes only a few campus visits each year and accepted an invitation from his longtime friend Ralph Smith, general counsel for the UA System. Smith is the Alabama secretary for the Rhodes Scholarship Trust.

A UA English major was named a 2001 Rhodes Scholar, the 15th student in UA history to receive this prestigious award. In the last six years, two UA students were awarded prestigious Jacob Javits national fellowships for arts, humanities and social sciences; and seven won Goldwater Scholarships, the nation’s top undergraduate award for study in math, science and engineering.

Rhodes Scholarships are granted in the United States each year to college graduates who then spend two to three years of fully funded study at the University of Oxford in England. Only 32 are granted each year.

For more information on Gerson’s visit to UA, contact the UA Honors College at 205/348-5500.