Rhodes Scholarship

Inside Duke Humfrey's Library, the oldest reading room in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.

Rhodes Scholarships allow young people from around the world, including University of Rochester students and alumni, to study at the University of Oxford.

Rhodes Scholarship logo. Created in 1902, the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest international scholarship program for postbaccalaureate study, enabling outstanding young people from around the world to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Oxford in Great Britain.

Scholars are selected on several criteria, including outstanding intellect and character, as well as motivation to engage with global challenges, commitment to serving others, and promise to become principled leaders in the future.

More than 100 students are selected globally each year. In 2018, the Rhodes Global Scholarship was launched as part of the expansion of the scholarship program to enable students from any country in the world to apply.

Past Rhodes recipients include:

  • Former President Bill Clinton
  • Astronomer Edwin Hubble
  • Television journalist George Stephanopoulos
  • Current US Senator Cory Booker
  • Former Senator Bill Bradley
  • Author Naomi Wolf
  • Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk

Learn more about the Rhodes Scholarship and other fellowship, scholarship, and award opportunities available to Rochester students.

Recent Rhodes Scholars

Congratulations to the most recent Rhodes Scholars from the University of Rochester! This is the second consecutive year a University of Rochester student was selected: Beauclaire Mbanya Jr. ’20 of Cameroon was chosen in November 2020.

Kudzai Mbinda, 2022 Rhodes Scholar.Kudzai Mbinda ’22, a chemical engineering major from Harare, Zimbabwe, will begin graduate studies in fall 2022. He’ll pursue a master’s degree in energy systems at Oxford, followed by an MBA.

Mbinda is the first Rochester student to earn a Rhodes Scholarship while an undergraduate since J. Timothy Londergan ’65. Rochester’s only other Rhodes Scholar was the late Robert Babcock ’37, who became lieutenant governor of Vermont.

“Being announced as a Rhodes Scholar was a surreal and humbling moment,” Mbinda says.

Read Mbinda’s Newscenter Article

Quick Look at Recent Scholars

2022 Scholar

Kudzai Mbinda ’22
Area of study: Chemical engineering (BS)

2021 Scholar

Beauclaire Mbanya Jr. ’20
Area of study: Chemical engineering (BS)

Past Rhodes Scholars and Runners-up

2016 Finalist

Angela Remus ’16
Areas of study: International relations (BA) and Spanish (BA)

2010 Finalist

Yaneve N.E. Fonge ’11
Area of study: Microbiology (BS)
Minor: Clinical psychology

2004 New York Semifinalist

Joanna Toke ’04, ’05 (MPH)
Areas of study: Microbiology (BS) and German (BS)
Minor: Russian
Graduate degree: School of Medicine and Dentistry (MPH)         

1965 Scholar

Timothy Londergan ’65
Area of study: Physics (BS) 

1937 Scholar

Robert Babcock ’37
Area of study: History (BA)