Scholars Galore

What a difference a year makes! In 2005, Harvard affiliates earned one Marshall Scholarship and two Rhodes Scholarships. In 2006, those numbers...

What a difference a year makes! In 2005, Harvard affiliates earned one Marshall Scholarship and two Rhodes Scholarships. In 2006, those numbers doubled and quadrupled, respectively. Harvard had more Rhodes picks than any other school, including winners from Canada and Zimbabwe. Daniel Wilner, of Kirkland House and Montreal, a philosophy concentrator, will study politics and social policy at Oxford (where all Rhodes Scholars go); Benjamin L. Robinson, of Mather House and Harare, a joint social studies and German concentrator, whose selection was announced later than the other fellows’, will pursue philosophy.

    
 
Daniel Wilner
Joshua Billings
 
 
Casey Cep
Parvinder S. Thiara
 
 
Brad Smith
Ryan R. Thoreson
   
 
Elise Wang
 
 
 
Daniel J. Hemel
Emily K. Vasiliauskas
Photographs by Kris Snibbe, Stephanie Mitchell, and Justin Ide / Harvard News Office

Harvard’s American Rhodes Scholars are: Joshua Billings, of Leverett House and Cambridge, a joint classics and German concentrator who will study European literature; Casey Cep, of Pforzheimer House and Cordova, Maryland,an English concentrator (and one of this magazine’s Ledecky Undergraduate Fellows) who expects to study theology; Brad Smith ’05, formerly of Leverett House and Knoxville, Tennessee, a government concentrator who plans to obtain an M.Phil. in comparative social policy; chemistry concentrator Parvinder S. Thiara, of Kirkland House and Rochelle, Illinois, who plans to earn master’s degrees in theoretical chemistry and in water science, management, and policy; Ryan R. Thoreson, of Lowell House and Fargo, North Dakota, a joint government and women, gender, and sexuality concentrator, who will earn an M.Phil. in social anthropology; and Elise Wang, of Adams House and Chicago, a joint comparative religion and women, gender, and sexuality concentrator, who plans to pursue an M.Sc. in forced migration, looking at refugee law.

Both new Marshall Scholars are Lowell House residents. Daniel J. Hemel, a social studies concentrator from Scarsdale, New York, will earn an M.Phil. in international relations at Oxford. Emily K. Vasiliauskas, a literature concentrator from Penhook, Virginia, will study criticism and culture at Cambridge University.

 

Most popular

AI Outperforms Doctors in Emergency Room Tasks, New Harvard Study Shows

Researchers say the technology could help physicians with triage, diagnosis.

Phi Beta Kappa Speakers Call Out a ‘Deeply Troubling’ Moment

Former Harvard President Lawrence Bacow and poet Meghan O’Rourke urge graduates to focus on character and “radical attention.”

Meet Harvard’s 2026 Student Commencement Speakers

Two undergraduates and a Ph.D. candidate will address the graduating class on May 28.

Explore More From Current Issue

A man holding a revolver and lantern, wearing a hat and coat, appears to be walking cautiously.

Scoundrels, Then and Now

On con men, Mark Twain, and the powers of the Harvard name

White House and Harvard University buildings split diagonally with contrasting colors.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

Colorful illustrated map of Colonial Cambridge and the Harvard College campus featuring buildings of the campus, houses, Cambridge Common, and the Charles River

250 Years Ago, Harvard Was Home to a Revolution

A look at the sights, sounds, and characters that put the University on the frontlines of history