Arielle Hudson has been named the University of Mississippi’s 27th Rhodes Scholar and is the university’s first African American woman to be selected for the scholarship program.
Hudson, a senior English education major, plans to pursue a dual master’s degree in comparative social policy and comparative international education before returning to Mississippi to fulfill her five-year teaching requirement as a Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program scholarship recipient.
Besides her work on campus as an Associated Student Body senator and the president of the Black Student Union, Hudson has also volunteered in schools with the Marks Project, a collaborative effort to improve educational opportunities in Quitman County.
After volunteering with the Marks Project, Hudson established a program called Literacy Lets Individuals Gain Height to Success, or Literacy L.I.G.H.T.S. This program has helped provide more than 400 books and reading materials to classrooms and homes in Tunica and Oxford, among other places.
Hudson is the university’s second female recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship. Last year, general studies and journalism major Jaz Brisack became the university’s first female recipient. Brisack is currently at the University of Oxford studying political theory.
The Rhodes Scholarship is one of the most prestigious international fellowships in the world. Each year, 32 students from the United States are selected not only based on academic achievements, but also on character and potential for leadership in future careers.
Rhodes Scholars have the opportunity to pursue one or more degrees at the University of Oxford in England and will receive tuition, travel, room and board and a living stipend for two years, with a possible third year provided by the Rhodes Trust, named after founder Cecil John Rhodes.
