Andrew Lanham '10 Wins Rhodes Scholarship

Andrew Lanham '10, a double major in English and philosophy, is among 32 American undergraduate students awarded Rhodes Scholarships for 2011.  A native of Wooster, OH, he is currently tutoring low-income students in nearby Lower Merion Township, PA, and will spend up to the next three years studying English at the University of Oxford in England.

Andrew served as captain of the cross country team, co-chair of Honor Council, a TA in the Philosophy Department, an intern to the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and a research assistant to Prof. Laura McGrane.  He won the MacIntosh Award (conferred on the most accomplished student-athlete in the freshman class), the Ambler Award (conferred on the leading scholar-athletes in a graduating class), top graduation prizes conferred by Haverford's English and Philosophy Departments, and an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.  He was also one of only three students in his class to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a Junior and one of two members of the class of 2010 who graduated summa cum laude.

"Andrew's literary and scholarly attainments as a double major in English and philosophy are really extraordinary. It is not just that his grades are stellar but rather what earns him these grades that marks his true distinction," notes Prof. Kathleen Wright, who recalls his work on a project that examined James Joyce's Ulysses and Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.  "Andrew judiciously introduced a series of parallel passages from both texts to render ever more vividly just how the mind's drive to return to an unconditioned state of being leads back again and again to what Hegel himself had characterized as a 'highway of despair.' What I found immensely moving about the story Andrew unfolded was his sense of what mattered about it. It was not that Joyce can show us how and why Hegel's project in the Phenomenology fails; others have shown this already so that this is nothing new.  Rather what Joyce can disclose about Hegel as a fellow traveler on the highway of despair is the way the mind (or spirit) becomes bemused and self-creative - rather than defeated and self-destructive - when faced once again with failure."

A key component of the Rhodes competition is athletic prowess.  Jess Lord, Haverford's Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, says that Lanham's win -- announced on the same day that the Cross Country team he once captained won the NCAA national championship -- illustrates the opportunities available to Haverford students.  "Not only do you get to compete, you get to compete at the highest levels.  So in many ways, the Rhodes Scholarship is a fitting capstone to a Haverford scholar-athlete's career here."

More than 800 students, endorsed by their undergraduate institutions, competed for the prize which was created in 1902 by British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes.  Ultimately, approximately 80 students from around the world will receive the award this year, which covers all university fees as well as travel costs to and from Oxford, and provides a stipend for day to day expenses.