How the Rhodes Scholarships can support your students

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About the speakers

Babs Wise spent nearly two decades at Duke University’s Office of University Scholars and Fellows (OUSF) in Carolina, USA, where she helped to create a process in which students use the scholarship competition to reflect on their values, interests and goals. The success of this process is reflected in the fact that in the seven years since OUSF spun off competitive scholarships as a separate division in 2015, the list of Duke student scholarship winners includes eight Rhodes, five Marshalls, seven Trumans, seven Gates Cambridges, three Mitchells and 14 Schwarzmans.

Babs began her career at Duke as Assistant Director for the FOCUS Programme, the flagship programme for first-year students. She became Associate Director and Fellowship Advisor for OUSF in 2004, before leading a fellowship advising team for all Duke students and alumni as Director for Nationally Competitive Scholarships at OUSF. Babs holds a BA in Religion from the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill and an MA in Liberal Studies from Duke University, both in the USA.

Louise Dearnley is the Director of Selection & Outreach for the Rhodes Trust. The team works closely with National Secretariats across 24 constituencies spanning 70+ countries, in developing outreach strategies, improving selection processes and sharing good practices.

Prior to her time at the Rhodes Trust, Louise spent 20 years in the private sector working for IBM, Deutsche Bank, GE and the Metro Group. She has worked in risk management, sustainability and marketing, whilst always making time for her passion of coaching young potentials in leadership practices. Louise holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE) from St Hilda’s College, the University of Oxford, UK.

Doyin Atewologun is Dean of the Rhodes Scholarships at the University of Oxford, UK, overseeing the Rhodes Scholar experience and programme in Oxford. She provides strategic leadership and management to the Trust's support for Scholars' academic success, well-being and leadership development. She is a psychologist, scholar practitioner, a regular media contributor and expert on leadership, diversity, intersectionality and organisation culture. She has extensive experience in coaching, executive education, programme design and research advising. She is Director of Delta Alpha Psi, a niche leadership and inclusion consultancy. She was previously Director of the Gender, Leadership & Inclusion Centre at Cranfield School of Management, and Reader.

Doyin has worked with many of the FTSE 100, United Nations agencies, legal and other professional services firms, and the UK Civil Service for over 15 years.