VCU news

By Tom Gresham

Margaret (Maggie) O’Brien, a 2008 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, has been selected as a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, the oldest international fellowship for academic study.

O’Brien, who is from Blacksburg, will participate in selection interviews for the scholarship on Saturday in Atlanta. She will learn that day if she is one of only 32 Rhodes Scholars to be selected this year in the United States. Rhodes Scholarships provide expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England and may allow funding for four years in some instances.

O’Brien graduated from the Honors College at VCU with bachelor’s degrees in sculpture and political science. O’Brien plans to study international development at Oxford if selected for the scholarship. She ultimately hopes to pursue a career working to evaluate and improve the use of foreign aid as an international development tool.

O’Brien’s sculptures were selected for several exhibitions and awards when she was an undergraduate at VCU. She was involved in student government and spent time working in the Virginia General Assembly. O’Brien also was selected for an English-Speaking Union Fellowship that allowed her to spend three weeks at Exeter College at Oxford in the summer of 2007.

“The entire university community is proud of Maggie O'Brien,” said Michael Rao, Ph.D., president of VCU. “She represents well the university's commitment to excellence, student success, and most importantly, learning and scholarship that holds the potential to improve the quality of the lives of many people."

Rhodes Scholarship finalists participate in interviews at 16 district sites in the U.S. Two scholarship recipients are selected at each site following the interview process. Criteria for the scholarship are high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor. The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904. Approximately 80 students worldwide are selected Rhodes Scholars each year.

Students and alumni interested in learning more about the Rhodes Scholarship and other national scholarship programs at VCU should visit http://www.honors.vcu.edu/nationalscholar, or contact Jeff Wing, national scholarship coordinator in the Honors College at VCU, at jawing@vcu.edu or (804) 828-1803.