College Graduate Sarah-Jane Littleford Named Rhodes Scholar

Sarah-Jane Littleford, C'09, has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for study at Oxford University in England. Littleford graduated magna cum laude with an individualized double major in sustainable development and environmental studies and was last year's student speaker for the College of Arts and Sciences graduation ceremony. Since graduation she has been on the staff in Penn's Office of Sustainability where she assisted in the development of the University's Climate Action Plan and is now working on Penn's 2010 Recyclemania competition.

Littleford, who is from Harare, Zimbabwe, was one of two Rhodes Scholars selected from that country. Her undergraduate thesis focused on the use of the native African shrub Jatropha curcas, or physic nut, as a bio-fuel in Zimbabwe. She intends to use the scholarship to earn a master's degree in the Nature, Society and Environmental Policy program at Oxford.

While a College student Littleford served as a residential advisor in Gregory College House and was active with the Penn Environmental Group, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships' Urban Nutrition Initiative, and the Global Development Initiative. She was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and served as a student coordinator for the International Student Orientation as well as two environmental conferences in the spring. In the summer of 2007, Littleford worked as a human resources intern with Zimbabwe Platinum Mines.

Littleford is the fifth Penn graduate to win a Rhodes since the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships was created 10 years ago.