Ian Desai
Chicago, Dec. 01, 2004
IANS
NRIpress
Indian American Ian Desai, one of two students from
the University of Chicago to win a Rhodes scholarship
this year, is an intrepid explorer.
Desai, Asian American Andrew Kim and 30 other Americans
will benefit from two years of free study at England's
Oxford University. Desai, 22, is all over the map
- literally and academically.
His teachers say he is intensely curious, wants to
bridge cultures and challenge the status quo, thanks
to his supportive parents. Desai's father is from
Gujarat and his mother is from Boston.
A New Yorker, Desai graduated Phi Beta Kappa this
year with a degree in ancient studies. In 2001, he
tried to retrace the mythic journey of Jason and the
Argonauts through Greece, Turkey and the former Soviet
republic of Georgia.
He travelled by bus, motorcycle, car and on foot.
To get around, he used a little Greek, broken Turkish
and the kindness of strangers. He even negotiated
with Turkish fishermen to spend 10 days on their trawler.
At one point he and Michael Newton, a photographer
who chronicled the trip, were warned by a Georgian
train conductor that they were in bandit country.
"We're very proud of him," said Susan Art,
Dean of Students of the University of Chicago's undergraduate
college. "Ian is a remarkable individual who
has contributed so much to the university. I think
his success does justice to the quality of the education
we offer," Art added.
Desai hopes to build upon his undergraduate research
that has explored a rarely undertaken subject: a comparison
of the Iliad and the Mahabharata.
At Oxford, Desai plans to pursue degrees in both
modern European literature and Oriental Studies. He
hopes his academic study will result in a deeper cross-cultural
understanding with a social purpose.
"I hope I can help build bridges between academic,
business, and non-governmental communities,"
he wrote, in his application, "in order to foster
social progress in the world."
While at the University of Chicago, Desai was elected
a Student Marshal, the highest academic honour for
an undergraduate, and received the university's Brooker
Prize in Book Collecting for his collection of poetry.
"Ian Desai was one of those rare students who
read every book I ever mentioned, discovered other
books that I had not even known about, pestered me
with questions, and demonstrated a learning curve
as steep as Everest," wrote Wendy Doniger, the
Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor in History
of Religions, in Desai's Rhodes recommendation.
In addition to his academic and intellectual accomplishments,
Desai was a leader of several extracurricular organisations.
He co-founded and directed Chicago Society, which
brings leading members of government, industry, policy
to campus, and the Kashmir Project, which hosted conferences
on the history and culture of this hotly contested
region.
A month after completing his degree Desai co-founded
Linking Individuals Through Education (LITE), a Chicago-based
non-profit group focussed on promoting cross-cultural
understanding.
The Rhodes Trust
VIENNA, VIRGINIA/November 20, 2004 - Elliot F. Gerson,
American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, today announced
the names of the thirty-two American men and women
chosen as Rhodes Scholars. They will enter the University
of Oxford in England in October 2005. The Scholars
were chosen today from 904 applicants - who were endorsed
by 341 colleges and universities. Rhodes Scholarships
provide two or three years of study at Oxford. The
Rhodes Scholarships, oldest of the international study
awards available to American students, were created
in 1902 by the Will of Cecil Rhodes, British philanthropist
and colonial pioneer. The first class of American
Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904.
Rhodes Scholars are chosen in a three-stage process.
First, candidates must be endorsed by their college
or university. Committees of Selection in each of
the fifty states then nominate candidates who are
interviewed by District Selection Committees in eight
regions of the United States.
Applicants are chosen on the basis of the criteria
set down in the Will of Cecil Rhodes. These criteria
are high academic achievement, integrity of character,
a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential
for leadership, and physical vigor. These basic characteristics
are directed at fulfilling Mr. Rhodes's hopes that
the Rhodes Scholars would make an effective and positive
contribution throughout the world. As he wrote, Rhodes
Scholars should “esteem the performance
of public duties as their highest aim.
Candidates may apply either in the state where they
are legally resident or where they have attended college
for at least two years. The state selection committees
interviewed applicants on Wednesday, November 17,
to choose state nominees to appear as finalists before
district committees which met Saturday, November 20,
in eight cities across the country. Each district
committee made a final selection of four Rhodes Scholars
from the nominees of the states within the district.
Ninety six applicants from 59 colleges and universities
reached the final stage of the competition.
The thirty-two Rhodes Scholars chosen from the United
States will join an international group of Scholars
chosen from eighteen other jurisdictions around the
world. In addition to the thirty-two Americans, Scholars
are also selected from Australia, Bangladesh, Bermuda,
Canada, the nations of the Commonwealth Caribbean,
Germany, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia,
New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Southern Africa
(South Africa, plus Botswana, Lesoto, Malawi, Namibia
and Swaziland), Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. Approximately
95 Scholars are selected worldwide each year.
With the elections announced today, 3,046 Americans
have won Rhodes Scholarships, representing 307 colleges
and universities. Since 1976, women have been eligible
to apply and 356 American women have now won the much-coveted
scholarship. More than 1,800 American Rhodes Scholars
are living in all parts of the U. S. and abroad. In
this year's competition, a Rhodes Scholar was elected
for the first time from the University of Wisconsin
at Eau Claire.
The value of the Rhodes Scholarship varies depending
on the academic field, the degree (B.A., master's,
doctoral), and the Oxford college chosen. 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. The total value averages approximately
US$35,000 per year.
The full list of the newly elected Rhodes Scholars,
with the states from which they were chosen, their
home addresses, and their American colleges or universities,
follows. Brief biographies follow the list.
