Rhodes Scholar postpones study for duty in Iraq

A University of Kansas graduate who was named a Rhodes scholar in December has been deployed to serve in northern Iraq until this fall, postponing his plans to study at Oxford University for a year.

Robert Chamberlain, c'02, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, was the 24th KU student to win a Rhodes scholarship, which provides more than $50,000 for two years of graduate study at Oxford in England.

Chamberlain was expected to be a member of the 100th class of Rhodes scholars at Oxford this fall. He has postponed his studies at Oxford until October 2004. Chamberlain plans to practice international and immigration law.

Chamberlain is the son of Michael and Judy Chamberlain and is a graduate of Washburn Rural High School in Topeka. He also attended Yates Center High School. In his senior year at KU, Chamberlain wrote an honors thesis studying international applications of the regime theory, which was developed in the 1980s to examine strengths and weaknesses of political regimes. At KU, Chamberlain was a 2001 Truman scholar, a National Merit scholar and an Army ROTC battalion commander. His wife, Kristin, is a KU senior.