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Arts and Sciences Student Named Rhodes Scholar

November 22, 2015

Arts and Sciences Student Named Rhodes Scholar

Ilhan Dahir

Alumna Ilhan Dahir (political science; English, 2015) has been named a 2016 Rhodes Scholar. The scholarship supports two years of graduate study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom; 32 scholarships are awarded annually to outstanding seniors and recent graduates across the United States. Dahir is Ohio State’s sixth Rhodes Scholar; the university’s last scholar was Jessica Hanzlik in 2008. 

The daughter of Somali immigrants who fled that country's civil war, Dahir was selected for her commitment to the empowerment of refugee communities around the world and her potential as a leader and advocate for refugees and communities in turmoil. Dahir, who is on a Fulbright Fellowship teaching English in Turkey, did her senior thesis at Ohio State on the role of Western foreign fighters in the Islamic State group and their threat to global peace. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent her to represent the U.S. at an international discussion in Brussels on countering violent extremism. 

For years before and during her studies at Ohio State, Dahir was involved in Face to Face, an organization of Christian, Jewish and Muslim teenagers working to develop effective leaders for a multi-faith global society. After going through the leadership program herself, she returned as a counselor to help empower more future leaders. A Morrill Scholar, Buckeye Leadership Fellow and member of the University Honors Program, Dahir was named a White House Champion of Change in recognition of her innovative efforts helping the Somali Diaspora community of central Ohio, as well as for her participation in inter-faith efforts in Ohio and throughtout the world. She served as editor of The Algerian, Ohio State’s student magazine on political science and international relations;  led the university’s Collegiate Council on World Affairs as the chapter’s secretary; and organized for prison reform through the Ohio Student Organization, a statewide nonprofit group advocating for progressive public policy.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Dahir will spend two years at the University of Oxford in England, working towards her MSc degrees in refugee and forced migration studies; and global governance and diplomacy before returning to the U.S. to attend law school and begin a career as an international human rights attorney. She plans to dedicate her career to advocating for refugees and communities in turmoil.

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