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UC Berkeley alum Zarko Perovic is among 32 new Rhodes Scholars representing the United States, the Rhodes Trust announced Nov. 23.

Zarko Perovic

Rhodes scholar Zarko Perovic

The prestigious award provides all expenses for academic study at England’s Oxford University. Perovic plans to use his Rhodes scholarship to pursue a graduate degree in international relations.

A 2012 University Medal finalist, he majored at Berkeley in political science and classical civilizations, did an independent senior project to raise public awareness of Roma issues, and studied languages. (Born in Serbia, he speaks Serbo-Croatian, French, Spanish, German and Romanian and reads Latin.) As an undergrad, Perovic was involved in the founding of the student magazine Caliber , a student publication with a current circulation of about 5,000. He also worked at the campus’s War Crimes Studies Center.

In 2012, Perovic was awarded a John Gardner Public Service Fellowship, a postgraduate fellowship offered by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, and spent his fellowship working at the State Department’s Office of Global Criminal Justice for 10 months. He currently works as a project manager at the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, where he is designing a system that allows individuals to document atrocities occurring in conflict zones.

Rhodes Scholars are chosen in a two-stage process – first by getting the endorsement of their college or university, then by going through an interview of the strongest candidates. This year 857 candidates had institutional endorsement and 208 candidates became finalists. The winners are chosen based on academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor.

The 32 U.S. Rhodes Scholars will join an international group from 14 other jurisdictions around the world.

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