Stanford student named 2020 Rhodes Scholar

History major Anat Peled, ’20, will pursue a MPhil at the University of Oxford in England. She is the second Stanford student to receive the prestigious award in the past week.

Stanford undergraduate Anat Peled, ’20, is a recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship – the second Stanford student to receive the award in the past week.

Anat Peled (Image credit: Courtesy Bechtel International Center)

The award is one of the oldest and most revered fellowships in the world and provides all expenses for two or three years of graduate study in a field of her choice at the University of Oxford in England.

The Rhodes Trust announced Tuesday that Peled is a recipient for her home country of Israel. Students who apply for the award are selected based on outstanding scholarly achievements, character, commitment to others and to the common good, as well as potential for leadership in whatever careers they choose. After completing her undergraduate studies at Stanford next spring, Peled will pursue an MPhil in History at Oxford.

Peled, who is from Ra’anana, Israel, is majoring in history with a focus on intellectual history and political philosophy and pursuing a minor in symbolic systems. She is co-founder and president of the Stanford International Security Undergraduate Network (SISUN). She was also awarded the 2019 George and Charlotte Shultz Fellowship for Modern Israel Studies to conduct research on Syrian Jewry in Israel.

Peled is also an accomplished writer. She has written articles for The Stanford Daily and The Times of Israel. She also received the Donald and Robin Kennedy Undergraduate Award in 2019 for her essay “Collecting Folklore on Facebook: Syrian Proverbs and Their Reconstructed Context.”

As a 2020 Rhodes Scholar, Peled joins coterminal degree student Cyrus Reza, who was named one of 32 Americans selected for the award. After graduating next spring, he will relocate to Oxford to pursue a DPhil in Oriental Studies.

International scholarships

Stanford students interested in overseas scholarships and Stanford faculty interested in nominating students for such awards should contact Diane Murk, manager of the Overseas Resource Center at dmurk@stanford.edu, or John Pearson, director emeritus of the Bechtel International Center, at john.pearson@stanford.edu.