Julia Parker Goyer, Trinity '07 and a Robertson Fellow, has been awarded the 2009 Rhodes Scholarship, widely considered to be one of the greatest honors a student can receive.
"I'm thrilled," said Provost Peter Lange, who wrote Goyer a letter of recommendation for the award. "That's all I can say. It's fantastic-it's great for her, it's great for Duke, it's great what Duke has done for her."
The scholarship provides 32 recipients-selected from a pool of 769 applicants at 207 colleges and universities this year-with an all-expenses-paid education at the University of Oxford in England. Goyer is Duke's 42nd Rhodes Scholar, but the first student to receive the award since 2007. Although three students were finalists that year, none received the scholarship.
Adam Eaglin, Trinity '08, and Sally Liu, Trinity '09, were also named finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship this year.
"I'm really glad to be able to win this for Duke," Goyer said. "Duke played such a role in giving me the right experiences, and this is very much a good thing for Duke."
Goyer will use her stipend to study comparative and international education, a course of study that she believes will aid her philanthropic efforts. Goyer founded Coach for College in 2007, a program in which student-athletes encourage youth in developing countries to achieve in the classroom using sports as a motivational tool. Twenty student-athletes from Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill volunteered in Vietnam during the program's pilot session this past summer.
Goyer said the Rhodes Scholarship will be an invaluable resource as she seeks to expand the program to attract students from other universities and serve other developing countries.
"The main reason why I want to go to Oxford is to improve [Coach for College]," Goyer said. "I'm hoping to become more familiar with the educational systems of different countries, and also just to talk to people about different countries that they are familiar with and whether the program will work there."
She added that the scholarship may also raise public awareness of Coach for College, noting that she has fielded numerous questions about the program from reporters since her achievement was made public.
Goyer has been thrust into the spotlight for her association with Myron Rolle, the other student awarded the Rhodes Scholarship from her district. Rolle-a safety for the Florida State University football team who graduated on the pre-med track in two-and-a-half years-is the most prominent college athlete to receive the scholarship in decades, and his selection has made national headlines.
"In recent years, the athletic part of the award has been somewhat devalued," said Goyer, who played varsity tennis at Duke. "I think it's a great thing for student athletes in general that both of us were selected."
And the Rhodes Scholarship is likely just the beginning for Goyer, Christina Williams, professor of neuroscience and psychology, wrote in an e-mail.
"What I saw in Parker then and what I have come to know better about Parker in the last several years is that she is a rare combination: a scholar, who is able to think deeply and creatively about a problem, and a practitioner, who has the ability to put findings into action," said Williams, who served informally as an adviser to Goyer and wrote her a letter of recommendation for the scholarship. "She is also the most persistent student I have ever met!"
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