Senior Jenna Smith named Rhodes Scholar

Duke senior Jenna Smith was named a Rhodes Scholar Sunday, making her the University’s 56th-ever recipient.

As one of 32 students selected from 865 applicants across the country, Smith will receive an all-expenses-paid scholarship for two years of study at the University of Oxford. There, she plans on pursuing a Master of Science in criminology and criminal justice as well as a Master of Science in comparative social policy before applying to law school.

“I’m acutely aware of the history of this scholarship and who it was originally intended for — not someone who looks like me, not someone who looks like my parents who sacrificed to give me the educational opportunities that I have today, and not someone who looks like my ancestors who were once enslaved not far from Duke’s campus,” Smith wrote in a Monday email to The Chronicle. “For that reason, the Rhodes is not just an honor but an acknowledgment of the work of those who have made this opportunity possible for me and others to come.”

Smith — who hopes to dedicate her career to “rectifying inequities within the criminal justice system” — wrote that attending Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar will allow her to “tak[e] time to understand the system at large — which is not the central focus of law school,” in order to become a “more well-rounded lawyer.”

Hailing from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, Smith is a Robertson Scholar pursuing a major in international comparative studies and a minor in journalism and media. Throughout her time at Duke, she has served as the co-president of the Duke Justice Project, co-instructed a house course on rectification in correctional institutions and reported for the 9th Street Journal.

Outside of Duke, she has also worked as a policy intern for the Innocence Project and a reporting intern for the Chicago Tribune.

“Jenna Smith is an exceptional thinker, leader, writer and reformer, and I am delighted she has been selected to receive the Rhodes Scholarship,” said President Vincent Price in a Sunday Duke Today article. “During her studies at Duke, she has been involved with restorative justice through leadership, journalism and civic engagement, and I look forward to all that she will accomplish during her time at Oxford and beyond.”

Smith is joined by 31 students across the country from 19 other universities, including Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They will begin their studies at Oxford October 2025.

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