October 20, 2005
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417
AMHERST, Mass.—Daniel L. Altschuler of New York City, a graduate of Amherst College in 2004, has been named a Rhodes Scholar. Altschuler is one of just 32 students nationally to receive the prestigious scholarships.
A political science, black studies and Spanish major at Amherst, Altschuler plans to study for a M.Phil. degree in development studies at Oxford University, and then hopes “to contribute meaningfully to development rooted in the experiences, voices and the visions of marginalized communities around the world,” a goal he is already well on his way to accomplishing.
Since graduation, Altschuler has been working in Chile on a Watson Fellowship, compiling an oral history of the transition from authoritarian to democratic rule in urban shantytowns, rural towns and indigenous communities. He has also worked with housing organizations in South Africa, where he founded Asifunde Bantwana (“Let's Read, Children”), an after-school literacy program for children at the Johannesburg Trust for the Homeless. Altschuler has also published papers and delivered lectures on development. Altschuler is currently working as a program associate at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board in New York City. He is helping facilitate the conversion of six clusters of buildings in Harlem and the South Bronx to resident-owned and managed limited equity cooperatives.
A graduate of the Riverdale Country School, Altschuler is the son of Alan Altschuler and Donna K. Altschuler of New York. A member of Phi Beta Kappa at Amherst, Altschuler was awarded the Alpha Delta Phi Fund grant to organize a conference on socially responsible investing at the college. He also received first prize in the 2004 Frederick S. Lane Book Collecting Competition for his collection on Afro-Cuban religiosity. He received a W. MacLean Johnson '38 Fellowship (2001), Sylvia C. Hecht and Benedict L. and Babette H. Rosenberg Internship (2002), and the Hotchkiss/Patrick Internship (2003) for summer work in the non-profit and public service sectors. Altschuler was a member of three varsity teams while at Amherst; golf, tennis and soccer.
Altschuler is the sixth Amherst College student to receive a Rhodes Scholarship in the past 25 years. The most recent were Jordan Krall '01, named a Rhodes Scholar in 2001 and Vaughn Gray '00 in 2000.
Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes. This year's 32 Rhodes Scholars were selected by 16 districts with each District Committee selecting not more than two candidates who will represent the state or states within each District as Rhodes Scholars at Oxford. The Scholars were chosen from 903 applicants who were endorsed by 333 colleges and universities throughout the nation.
Founded in 1821, Amherst is a highly selective, coeducational liberal arts college with approximately 1,600 students from most of the 50 states and more than 30 other countries. Consistently ranked among the nation's best educational institutions, Amherst awards the B. A. degree in 33 fields of study.
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