Canadian Rhodes Scholars Foundation

P.O. Box 4005, Station A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 2Z8

July 1, 2010

                                  Four Scholars Elected for 2009-10

                   Directors 2009-2010

Simon Chester

Ches Crosbie

Astrid Guttmann

Diane Nalini de Kerckhove

Michael Howarth

Jacques Hurtubise

John McCall MacBain

Ian Macdonald

Hugh Porteous

Brian Rolfes

Jessie Sloan

                        President and Secretary

Richard French

                             Treasurer

Paul Singer

Lauren Carter  is graduating from St. Hilda’s College in English, and has been accepted at the Vancouver Film Institute. She is interested in the “psychological and cultural processes that contribute to the creation of literature, as well as the significance of cultural memory.” Lauren hopes to become a writer. While an undergraduate, she was an officer cadet in the Royal Air Force and was co-leader of a six member “Far Eastern Expedition” which drove from Oxford to Singapore from June to October 2008, travelling through twenty countries.  She represented Oxford against Cambridge at the Varsity Meet, in the hammer throw and 400m track events. As a secondary school student she and colleagues initiated a successful project to build a library for a school in The Gambia, and the relationship between the two schools remains active today. Her tutor describes her as a “natural leader” who will “certainly ‘go places’”.

Jack Knowles is completing his course in English at University College, having placed 8^th in the university among 246 candidates in Mods. Jack will be studying for a Masters in Film Studies at York University next fall.  He is a musician, represented his college at pool, played intercounty rugby in secondary school and has a strong interest in Canadian cultural figures such as Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Margaret Atwood.  His passion is the cinema and the application of critical theory to film. His tutors speak of the “exceptionally high standard” of his work and their expectation that he will obtain very high results.

Thomas Leary is finishing his law degree (Law with European Law, 4 years) at Christ Church and intends to study for his LLM at the University of Toronto.  He gained a first in Mods and is expected to do the same in Finals.  He spent 2008-2009 at the law school of Leiden University.  Thomas played cricket for his college and won many moot court competitions.  His interest is in political and constitutional theory and their implications for public and human rights law.  He is considered the top undergraduate in Oxford in constitutional law and his long term ambition is to teach law while pursuing a career as a barrister in chambers in London.  His tutors describe him as an “outstanding lawyer”,  “exceptionally bright an hard working...[with] great insight and knowledge...remarkable maturity and thoughtfulness.”

Martin Parlett studied English at St. Benet’s Hall. He will follow the Masters course in English at the University of British Columbia. He is from a school in a deprived region of Cumbria which had never before sent a student to Oxford; whilst there, he achieved the highest results in the country in two of his A-levels. Martin decided to take some time off from his studies in 2008, during which time he worked in the United States, where among other things he served as a campaign director for the Virginia presidential campaign of Barack Obama. He was proud to receive a personal letter of thanks from Senator Obama for his implementation of a new campaign strategy. In addition to writing for Cherwell and the Oxford Theatre Review, he founded Grass Roots Organization to encourage disadvantaged students to engage in democratic processes, to raise political awareness in young adults, and to encourage aspiration to the best universities in the country. He has visited a number of schools, coordinated mock interview sessions for university applicants, and founded a number of prizes and awards. He has also worked as the JCR Secretary of his college, and as an AimHigher Associate for the University. His academic interests are twofold: Anglo-Saxon literature and the rhetoric of modern political discourse. He is involved in a collaborative book project to write on “current rhetorical patterns in political speeches.” He hopes to pursue a career in either academia or politics. Martin’s tutors describe him as an outstanding person, concerned for the welfare of his fellows, with an original and innovative intellectual approach, “stylish” prose, and “adventurous” tastes.