Oxbridge Academic Programs - The Oxford Tradition

 

Dr Lydia Carr. BA (Hons) University of St Andrews, Scotland, MA University College London, DPhil Oxford. Lydia is an Ochs Scholar, whose research and publications concern Roman and Saxon Britain as well as the medieval and modern periods. She completed her doctorate at Exeter College, Oxford University, and she teaches on The Oxford Tradition having studied Archeology herself on the program in 1997. In recent years she has worked with the Curator of Archeology for Oxfordshire, curators at the Art Institute of Chicago, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Dr Stephen Forrest. BA (Hons) University of Montana, MA London School of Economics, EdD Oklahoma State University. An award-winning scholar who is researching a doctorate in modern Irish history at Hertford College, Oxford University, Stephen has a prior doctorate in education specializing in adult learning theory’s implications for American democracy. In the US he has taught at colleges in New York, Arizona, Oklahoma and Montana. At Oxford he lectures at Hertford College, where he is the former MCR President.

Amia Srinivasan. BA (Hons) Yale University, BPhil (Hons) Oxford. Amia is a Rhodes Scholar and graduate student in philosophy at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University. At Yale, she focused on Continental philosophy, founded The Yale Philosophy Review, and won The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics and a George Frederick Jewett Foundation Fellowship. At Oxford her graduate thesis concerned the methodological implications of empirical findings in ‘armchair’ philosophy and she has turned her attention towards the Anglo-American Analytic tradition, with a particular interest in epistemology, philosophy of science, and Wittgenstein.

Victoria Staveley. BA Memorial University of Newfoundland. (Dean of Faculty) Victoria is a Rhodes Scholar and winner of a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is also Senior Warden at St Clare’s International College in Oxford where she teaches the International Baccalaureate. A specialist in Renaissance poetry and politics, she returns to teach for a seventeenth year.

Yambazi Banda. BSc (Hons) University of Zambia, Zambia. Yambazi is a Zambian Rhodes Scholar studying for a DPhil in particle physics at Linacre College, Oxford University, whose research simulates precision measurements of Higgs boson properties. Inspired to become a particle physicist by watching Dexter’s Laboratory as a child, he graduated from the University of Zambia with a Distinction in Physics and won the International Centre for Theoretical Physics’ Diploma Award. Yambazi is a member of the Linacre College darts and pool teams as well as a member of the Oxford University Karate Team.

Dr Richard Grayson. FRSA FRGS, BA (Hons), MA, MPhil Cambridge, DPhil Oxford. Former Bureau Chief and Senior Correspondent of British Television News and President of the Foreign Press Association, Richard was educated in International Law and Politics at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Between degrees he was an Avalon Fellow at the School of International Service in Washington DC. He has spent the last decade in the television news industry as a war and White House correspondent.

Elaine Binns. BA (Hons), PG Dip. Reading University. Elaine is the Director of OpenHand OpenSpace, a locally-funded arts society that holds regular exhibitions in the South-East of England. She is also a Fine Arts lecturer at Uxbridge College and Wokingham and Bracknell College. With extensive experience of many conventional artistic media, Elaine also has expertise in shamanic art, stone-carving, and is a practicing artist. Her comprehensive but uniquely individual talents have inspired exhibitions throughout the UK.

Robert Soulsby-Smith. BA (Hons), MA Oxford. Robert is the Artistic Director of Shakespeare in Schools, an organization that demystifies Shakespeare for young people through active interpretation and performance. He first taught on The Oxford Tradition in 1991 and has visited 15,000 schools in the UK, the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Poland and elsewhere throughout the world. He has recently directed Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and he has performed in many lead roles, including Hamlet, King Lear, Henry V, Romeo, Macbeth, and Prospero.

Ruth Eldredge. BMus (Hons) Brigham Young University, MSt Oxford. A graduate research student at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, Ruth explores musical theory and practice during the Spanish and Portuguese Renaissance. An active organist and conductor, she has served as Director of Music at the Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy, oversees concerts at the Oxford University Church, and serves as an accompanist to the Christ Church College Choir. As a highly regarded organist, she has recently performed at venues in Oxford, London, Germany, and in the Netherlands – and she performs a concert for our students during July.

Abby Loebenberg. BAS, BArch University of Cape Town, South Africa, MPhil Oxford. Abby is a South African Rhodes Scholar, a doctoral student in Anthropology, and a qualified architect. In South Africa, she was awarded the Heinemann Book Prize in African Studies, The Ivor Prinsloo Prize and Essay Prize for Architectural Theory and The Cape Institute of Architects Group Prize for design. Her doctoral work concerns the cross-cultural and popular consumption of objects from the Japanese mass-culture industry, such as Pokemon and Transformers. At Oxford she is the MCR President of Hertford College and a martial arts enthusiast.

Ryan Thoreson. AB (Hons) Harvard University. As a Rhodes Scholar at Hertford College, Oxford University, Ryan is focusing upon globalization and sexuality for his MPhil in Social Anthropology. At Harvard, he was involved with a number of progressive initiatives on sexuality, transgender issues, and HIV/AIDS, received a Weissman Fellowship to conduct research at the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Brussels, and was awarded the Judge Charles Wyzanski Prize for his commitment to the pursuit of justice. He has also co-authored Fargo: A (Mostly) True Story for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and freelanced for The Advocate, The American Prospect, The Nation, and The Guardian.

Alisa Voznaya. BA Simon Frazer, MPhil Oxford. Alisa is doctoral candidate in Politics and International Relations at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, specializing in political accountability in a variety of post- Soviet regimes. She has tutored widely in Oxford, worked as an analyst for several publications, and has served as guest editor for Demokratizatsiya, an international interdisciplinary journal devoted to changes in the late Soviet Union and post-Soviet states. She has worked closely as a freelance tutor with the Oxford Programme for Undergraduate Studies and Oxford Tutorial College and has supervised undergraduate students at Hertford College.

Varun Divgikar. BEng University of Mumbai, India, MSc Oxford. Varun is an Indian Rhodes Scholar studying at Hertford College, Oxford University, pursuing a Master’s in Computer Science that focuses upon applying artificial intelligence to the field of financial economics. A former member of the Indian national swimming team, Varun has represented India at the World Championships (Melbourne, 2007) and the South Asian Games (Sri Lanka, 2006). At Oxford he holds four University swimming records and is a member of the Oxford Entrepreneurs and the Oxford University Financial and Consulting Society.

Julie Bolitho-Lee. BA (Hons) Alma College. Julie is a 2005 Truman Scholar from northern Michigan and an internationally published poet. She graduated summa cum laude from Alma College with a degree in Literature and Creative Writing and now pursues a Master’s degree in Literature and Medicine at King’s College London. At Alma College, she was President of the Sigma Tau Delta chapter (National English Honors Society) and received a Posey Foundation Travel Grant that allowed her to write while traveling throughout South America and Europe. She is a keen charity volunteer, painter, and a former competitive diver.

Nikola Casule. BA (Hons) Macquarie University, Australia. Nikola is a lecturer in Roman History at Christ Church, Oxford University, and last year won the Vice Chancellor’s Award for his doctoral research into the origins of Roman civilization. He has also held the post of lecturer in Ancient History at Somerville College and taught Greek and Roman history throughout Oxford over the course of his doctorate. In his native Australia, as a Junior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies at Macquarie University, he won the University Medal in Ancient History and the Macquarie Ancient History Association Prize for Best Honors Thesis.

James Tromans. BA (Hons), MSc Oxford. James is a doctoral student in experimental psychology at Pembroke College, Oxford University, specializing in the psychology of vision. In addition to his studies, he has been a member of the Oxford University track team for three years, specializing in the 800m and 400m. At Oxford, he pursues entrepreneurial business ventures that have included a gaming website with over 11,000 members. He is also a keen traveler, having journeyed widely around the world, including trips to surf in Sri Lanka and scuba-dive in Antigua.

Jamila Headley. BA (Hons) Saint Michael’s College. Jamila is a Rhodes Scholar from Barbados reading for a DPhil in Public Health at Exeter College, Oxford University. After completing her BA in Political Science at St Michael’s College in Vermont, she came to Oxford in 2007 to read for a Master’s in Global Health Science. In 2006, she received the Vermont State Madeline Kunin Public Service Award for her commitment to social justice and extensive volunteer efforts in Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Jordan, and New Orleans. In addition to pursuing her graduate research, she sits on the steering committee of Health GAP, a US-based non-governmental organization that campaigns for affordable medicines for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Eesvan Krishnan. BCom, LLB (Hons) University of Auckland, New Zealand, BCL Oxford. Eesvan is a New Zealand Rhodes Scholar reading for an MPhil in Law at Merton College, Oxford University. His research concerns proposed reform to the law of eminent domain in India and the acquisition of land by the government. Prior to arriving at Oxford, he clerked for the Chief Justice of New Zealand, served as a volunteer to support lawyers representing an Algerian refugee, helped to set up a student ‘pro bono’ organization at the University of Auckland, and was admitted to the High Court of New Zealand as a barrister and solicitor in 2007.

Katy Darby. BA (Hons) Oxford, MA University of East Anglia. Katy is a successful London-based writer, whose work has won various prizes, been read on BBC Radio, and published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Stand, The London Magazine, Pulp.net and the Arvon/Daily Telegraph Anthology. Her story ‘Going Out’ won the inaugural Happenstance Short Story Prize in 2007. She read English Literature at Somerville College, Oxford University, and as a Master’s student in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia won The David Higham Award. She teaches Creative Writing at City University and runs a monthly live fiction event, Liars’ League.

Aaron Polhamus. BA (Hons) Stanford University. Aaron is a Rhodes Scholar reading for an MSc in Applied Statistics before taking a second MSc in Environmental Change and Management. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Public Policy that combined political, economic, statistical, and organizational perspectives upon the development and impact of public policy-making, and won the University’s Roger G. Knoll Award for Excellence in Quantitative Analysis. Specializing in rural microfinance, he has traveled throughout Latin America and Africa, and has interned at the United States Treasury Department.

Angela Cummine. BA (Hons) University of Sydney, Diploma, College of Law, NSW, Australia. Angela is an Australian Rhodes scholar reading for an MPhil in Political Theory at New College, Oxford University. She graduated with First Class Honours in Politics and Law from the University of Sydney before working as a policy advisor in the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. An admitted solicitor in the New South Wales Supreme Court and a competitive university debater, Angela has competed at the World University Debating Championships three times and coached school students in debating and public speaking for over a decade. She has also represented Oxford University in netball.

Michiel Paris. BSc (Hons) London School of Economics, MPhil Oxford. After graduating with First Class Honours from the London School of Economics and with an MPhil from Oxford University, Michiel spent a year working in Paris and Washington, DC – first as part of the European Commission Delegation to the OECD and UNESCO and then at the International Food Policy Research Institute. As a graduate at St. Antony’s College in Oxford, he specialized in development economics and the factors involved in widening inequality in US economic history. At Oxford he rowed (crew) for his college, St. Antony’s, and has traveled extensively through Africa, East Asia, and Europe – far beyond his native Netherlands.

J. Phoenix Singh. BS (Summa Cum Laude) Tufts University. Having graduated in Clinical Psychology and Child Development from Tufts University, Phoenix is reading for a doctorate in Psychiatry as a member of University College, Oxford. He has won scholarships from the Society for Research in Child Development and the Society for Research in Adolescence to pursue his research, and his primary interest is psychopathic development and aggression. He has published a collegiate textbook, Approaches to Behavior and Classroom Management (2008) as well as scholarly articles on the link between behavioral genetics and offending. In addition to this doctoral research, he is the head hip-hop instructor at Linacre College, a second degree black belt in Taekwondo, and the lead singer for the Oxford-based hard rock band, A Patchwork Self.

Yiu-Tung Suen. BSSc Chinese University of Hong Kong, MSc Oxford. Tung is a doctoral candidate in Sociology at St. Antony's College, Oxford University, where he is a Swire Educational Trust Scholar, having earned his MSc at St. Hugh's College as a China Oxford Scholar. His research concerns notions of masculinity in the context of life transitions and he is a trained journalist with a First Class degree in Journalism and Communication. He also has experience of working as a reporter for a 24-hour news channel in Hong Kong; and as a director, script-writer and actor in Oxford and Hong Kong, he has been named the CUHK Intercollegiate Drama Competition Best Actor and won Hong Kong Schools Drama Festival Awards for acting, writing and overall performance.

Roulla Georgio. BA (Hons) Camberwell College of Art, PGCE Institute of Education. Roulla has extensive experience in many of the creative arts as a freelance graphic designer, a filmmaker, a silk screen designer, and a professional photographer. Having exhibited throughout London and worked as a photographer for a number of fashion labels, magazines, and bands, she works for Dazed & Confused, ID, and Pop magazines, London hip-hop bands Lazy Habits and Chewbaka, and has established her own company GAWP. She teaches photography and fine arts at Southgate College, London, and is studying for an MA at the London College of Fashion.

Konstantin Sofianos. BA (Hons) University of Cape Town, MA Oxford. A South African Rhodes Scholar, Konstantin is a doctoral candidate in English Literature at Wadham College, Oxford University, examining how novels convey national character. A man of several nations himself, he was born in Cyprus and was educated at a German international school in Pretoria when his family immigrated to South Africa. At the University of Cape Town, he won the prestigious Thelma Tyfield Essay Prize and graduated top of his class. He has also tutored in his native South Africa, taught at the University of Stellenbosch and Oxford Brookes University in the UK, contributes to The Oxonian Review of Books, and is an adjunct librarian at the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

Trudi Cloyd. BA (Hons) Smith College, MSc Oxford. Trudi is a graduate student reading for a Master’s in the Science and Medicine of Sport at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University, where she is the Junior Dean and the former MCR President. Before attending Oxford, she earned High Honors in her Biological Sciences degree at Smith College, where she received the Margaret Wemple Brigham Prize for her research on narrow-spectrum antibiotics. A Smith-Scholar Athlete and recipient of numerous All-Academic Team and All-Conference team awards, Trudi also captained her varsity field hockey team and served on a number of athletic advisory committees. Since arriving in Oxford, she has been extensively involved with Asylum Welcome, coaching soccer and volunteering with an organization that works with young refugees and asylum seekers in the Oxford area.

Phoebe Williams. BSc, BCom, Australian National University, BM BS (Hons) The University of Sydney, Australia. Phoebe is a Clarendon and Oxford-Australia Scholar reading for her MSc in Global Health Science as a member of St. Cross College, Oxford University. She is the Founder of the international NGO Hands of Help (www.handsofhelp.org), for which she has coordinated the volunteer activities of 200 medical students who have traveled from Australia to help build five primary schools in Uganda, create a sponsorship program for street-children in Kenya, and establish a Community Health Project run by Ugandans to provide grassroots health care for 50,000 people. At Oxford, she rows for Wolfson College Boat Club and represents the University running for Oxford University’s Cross-Country Club.