Pitt student named Rhodes Scholar

A Pitt graduate spending the year in Tanzania working to help people infected with HIV and AIDS… A Pitt graduate spending the year in Tanzania working to help people infected with HIV and AIDS has been named a 2012 Rhodes Scholar.

Cory Rodgers, who graduated from Pitt in August 2011 with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in Africana studies and history and philosophy of science and a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences, is the seventh Pitt undergraduate-degree recipient to win a Rhodes scholarship, according to a statement from Pitt released Sunday.

The scholarship, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious international study awards available to U.S. students, provides the 32 winners with two to three years of study at the University of Oxford in England, according to the statement from Pitt. The Rhodes Trust pays for all university fees and provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses, including transportation to and from England.

“The coveted Rhodes Scholarship is one of the highest honors available to young adults who successfully combine intellectual excellence, positive character, effective leadership and a genuine concern for others,” Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in the statement.

“This prestigious award publicly recognizes individuals who have built an existing record of high achievement and impact and who are judged to have exceptional potential for future service to humankind,” he said.

Rodgers was not immediately available for comment.

Rodgers, from Somerset, Pa., is a first-generation college student coming from a family of bricklayers. He is spending the year in Tanzania working on a project called “The Poultry Program for People Living with HIV and Aids in Rwambaizi.”

The press release states that Rodgers’ program is working toward developing an HIV-positive person’s capacity to raise free-range chickens as a sustainable and growing source of food and income. He is also trying to expand existing social structures within the Rwambaizi AIDS support group that is already in place.

In his time at Pitt, Rodgers worked as an undergraduate laboratory researcher in chemistry, was a member of “Keep It Real” and Phi Beta Kappa and worked with Habitat for Humanity through Pitt’s Alternative Spring Break.

While at Oxford, Rodgers will study medical anthropology and migration studies, with the goal of becoming a medical practitioner. He wants to work “among people affected by displacement, urbanization and cultural pluralism,” according to the statement.

He is one of 32 students from 18 U.S. colleges and universities to win the award this year. The winners, who were announced on Saturday, are chosen based on academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, all of which offer the promise of effective service to the world in future decades.

Recipients begin their studies at Oxford in October 2012.