IUB senior Kathleen Tran receives Rhodes Scholarship

Tran

Kathleen Tran, an IUB senior majoring in music, biochemistry and biology is one of 32 Americans to receive Rhodes Scholarships.

Tran’s connections with the university run deep. Her father, Lanh Tran, is a professor of mathematics at IUB, and her mother, Sam Tran, is a systems analyst with the IUB registrar’s office. Her father and mother came to this country from Vietnam in 1964 and 1972, respectively, and met in California. Her brother, Andrew, attends the IU School of Medicine and she plans to attend medical school following her studies at Oxford.

Her first classes at IU were at age 11, when she studied piano with Luba Edlina-Dubinski of the IU School of Music. She began taking classes in French at IU at age 14.

News of the award Dec. 7 topped off a hectic week for Tran and her family. The Rhodes Scholarship state selection committee interviewed applicants Dec. 4 and chose nominees who appeared as finalists before district committees. Tran’s district interviews were held in Chicago. Overall, 98 applicants reached the final stage of the competition.

“It is really sort of an overwhelming process. I was just happy to make it as a qualifier on the state level and then, suddenly, I was a Rhodes Scholar,” Tran said.

Tran is the 14th IU student to be named a Rhodes Scholar. The last was Raju Raval of Fort Wayne in 2000. She is the second woman from IU to receive the honor.

At Oxford, Tran plans to work toward a master’s degree in biodiversity and a master’s degree in integrative bioscience. Last summer, she worked in cancer research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

Tran moved to Bloomington with her family when she was five months old when her father accepted a faculty position at IU. She attended public schools in Bloomington, graduating from Bloomington High School South in 1999. She was named a Wells Scholar at Indiana University in spring 2001.

At IU, Tran has served as the spokeswoman for the Vietnamese Students Association. She also has worked as a volunteer at the dialysis center at Bloomington Hospital.

Rhodes Scholarships provide two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. The Rhodes Scholarships, the oldest of the international study awards available to American students, were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes.