Penn senior awarded Rhodes Scholarship

Rutendo Chigora, a Penn senior from Harare, Zimbabwe, has been named one of Zimbabwe’s two recipients of a Rhodes Scholarship, which will fund two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. At Oxford, Chigora will pursue a master’s degree in public policy.

“Rutendo is a great representative of the outstanding and dynamic students at Penn,” says Andrew Binns, vice provost for education in Penn’s Office of the Provost. “We are very proud of her success, and we are grateful to the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and to all the faculty and staff who supported her work.”

Chigora has conducted research on microfinance in Ghana, post-apartheid economic identities in South Africa, and the impact of social and economic remittances on African development. Chigora founded ZW Connect, a business incubator that creates economic opportunities for vulnerable communities in Zimbabwe. ZW Connect was a social venture challenge winner at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiatives University Conference. She will graduate in May 2015.