Two NYU Abu Dhabi students representing two countries, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, have been selected as 2017 Rhodes Scholars to attend the University of Oxford next year.
They are two of three students from NYU's global network to receive the prestigious award.
Dubai Abulhoul, Class of 2017
Dubai Abulhoul, from the UAE, is majoring in political science and is currently researching the effect of gender roles and culture on political participation in her home country as part of her senior Capstone project. She is a member of the Emirates Youth Council, a government initiative aiming to develop government strategies to keep up with youth trends, identify challenges facing today’s youth, and to ensure participation of youth in UAE public affairs.
In 2012, she authored Galagolia: The Hidden Divination, a best-selling Emirati fantasy novel that made her the UAE’s youngest published author. Abulhoul, who has interned at the UAE Embassy in Washington DC, later received the 2014 Arab Woman Award for Young Talent of the Year in recognition of her book.
I am very grateful to be chosen as a Rhodes Scholar to represent both my country and university at the University of Oxford next year. I wouldn't have been able to do it without the support and kindness of all the people who helped and encouraged me.
Guillaume Sylvain, Class of 2017
Guillaume Sylvain, from Quebec, has become immersed in the Arabic language and the Middle East, majoring in NYUAD's interdisciplinary Arab Crossroads program and minoring in Arabic language and political science. His Capstone research looks at how secondary school textbooks work to instill a set of shared values and a sense of Emirati historical national consciousness in a young nation where its citizens (UAE nationals) are a distinct minority.
At Oxford, I intend on continuing my studies of the Middle East and reflecting on ways that communities across the region and beyond can find coexistence where today there is conflict and polarization. Being a student at NYU Abu Dhabi has enabled me not only to study cross-cultural differences, but to experience them and to think about ways to make our community more whole.