The list of 2023 Rhodes Scholars includes four student-athletes: Washington and Lee basketball's Tahri Phillips, Army West Point lacrosse's Margaret Williams, MIT cross country/track and field's Matthew Kearney and Harvard rowing's Tessa Haining.
Among 32 Americans to receive the honor, the four student-athletes will receive fully funded postgraduate studies at Oxford University in England. Below is a brief biographical sketch of each student-athlete:
Tahri Phillips
A captain of the Washington and Lee women's basketball team, Phillips is a double major in cognitive and behavioral science and English. She also minors in African studies. At Oxford, Phillips plans to pursue a master's degree in evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation.
"When I found out that I had been selected, I was absolutely speechless," Phillips said in a university feature story. "I told my parents that it felt like being told that the entire trajectory of my life had shifted in an instant. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am ecstatic."
Phillips' extracurricular activities extend well beyond the court. She also serves as co-president of the school's all-female a cappella group, a research assistant in a cognitive and behavioral science research lab and a three-time student co-facilitator for Washington and Lee's recently launched First-Year Experience course. She's also a member of the Student Association for Black Unity, the Perry Minority Athlete Coalition, and the Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies. Additionally, she has interned with Voice in Sport, a platform for female athletes to connect and raise awareness around women's equality within sports.
Margaret Williams
An economics major at Army West Point, Williams plans to study for a Master of Science in economics for development and a Master of Science in global governance and diplomacy at Oxford.
According to a news release from the school, Williams' professional aspirations lie within international economics. Her interest in this area of work stems in large part to an internship with the White House National Security Council in the directorate for international economics and competitiveness, which enabled Williams to experience firsthand the power of economics as a policy tool in the international system.
"I am honored to represent the Army and the United States at Oxford," Williams said in the news release. "This is an unparalleled opportunity to continue studying the principles of economic development as I prepare to lead in some of the world's most underserved communities."
Williams has been recognized annually on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, is vice president of Army West Point's Phi Kappa Phi honor society and serves as a research assistant with the Irregular Warfare Initiative. Earlier this year, Williams was selected by Army West Point as a Presidential Fellow with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. Through this opportunity, she researches how digital currency and emerging financial technology disrupt financial systems and threaten national security. Williams, the school's release noted, intends to commission as an engineer officer and aspires to return to the National Security Council to shape strategy that enhances global economic stability.
Matthew Kearney
Kearney is a three-time New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference All-Conference and U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region selection in cross country. His cross country team recently won the program's first Division III championship. He is majoring in electrical engineering, computer science and philosophy. At Oxford, he will pursue a Master of Science in research in statistics. His goal is to redesign artificial intelligence technologies and practices to both address their harms and reimagine them as tools for solutions to pressing societal issues such as climate change and economic inequality.
"Matt is truly one of a kind," said MIT cross country head coach Riley Macon in an MIT athletics news release. "His leadership as a team captain is one of the primary factors for why we have performed at such a high level as a program. His work ethic, thoughtfulness and empathy will make him an extraordinary leader as he progresses into the next chapter of his life. I am so pleased to see that he has been rewarded for his efforts with the most prestigious scholarship in the world. He has absolutely earned it."
In addition to the cutting-edge research Kearney has been part of at MIT, he's also interned with Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle company, and Google X, the "moonshot factory" of Google. Kearney also co-founded a project in 2020 with the goal of focusing individual efforts on the most effective solutions to climate change. He and his co-founder were awarded MIT fellowships to support this work. Additionally, as part of his studies in the humanities, he was selected as an MIT Burchard Scholar.
Tessa Haining
A dual major in chemistry and competitive literature, Haining will head from Harvard to Oxford to study the history of science, medicine and technology. According to a Harvard Gazette feature story on the school's most recent Rhodes Scholars, she hopes her Oxford studies align her for a career in medicine, nonprofits or governmental agencies such as the National Institutes of Health.
In addition to being a standout student-athlete, Haining is writing a senior thesis on 20th-century French metaphysical philosopher Gilles Deleuze and is a violinist and production manager for Harvard's student-run orchestra. She also serves as co-director of Harvard's Eating Concerns Hotline and Outreach service, helping expand the program's reach on campus.
"It's been an immense privilege to be here, grow up and share my hometown with students at Harvard. That's been one of my favorite things about going here," Haining, who is from Newton, Massachusetts, said to the Harvard Gazette. "It'll be fun to be in a new place, learn a little bit about a new approach to everything."
