CIEE Douglass-O’Connell Global Internship Alum Selected as 2026 Rhodes Scholar

CIEE is proud to congratulate University of Pennsylvania senior Florence Onyiuke (pictured above, far right)—an alum of the 2023 Frederick Douglass Global Fellowship, now known as the Douglass-O’Connell Global Internship Program—on being named a 2026 Rhodes Scholar. She is among 32 students selected in the United States, and approximately 100 worldwide, to receive funding for graduate study at the University of Oxford.

University of Pennsylvania fourth-year Florence Onyiuke, from Altamonte Springs, Florida, has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England.

The Rhodes Scholarship, established in 1902, is highly competitive and one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world. The scholarship funds tuition and a living stipend for two or three years of graduate study at Oxford and may allow funding in some instances for four years. At Oxford, Onyiuke plans to pursue a master’s degree in economic development with a focus on West Africa.

Onyiuke is pursuing an international studies and business degree in the Huntsman Program, a dual degree program in the Wharton School and the School of Arts & Sciences, as well as a minor in Spanish. Onyiuke’s interests include international economic development, international law, and immigration. Her senior thesis, based on research she conducted in Spain during a Penn Abroad semester last spring, explores the informal economy and socioeconomic mobility of West African street vendors in Barcelona. Onyiuke was a Frederick Douglass Global Fellow, a three-year Perry World House Student Fellow, a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, and executive director of Black Wharton Consulting. She is also a Coca-Cola Scholar, Ron Brown Scholar, and recipient of the Presidential Service and Educational Excellence Awards.

Read the full announcement here.