UA Student Named Rhodes Scholar

University of Alabama senior Bradley D. Tuggle of Decatur has been named a Rhodes Scholar for 2001.

Tuggle is one of 32 students nationwide selected for a Rhodes Scholarship this year, and the only student from Alabama. This year’s Rhodes Scholars were selected from 950 applicants nationwide. Scholarship recipients spend two or three years studying at Oxford University in England.

Tuggle is the 15th Rhodes Scholar in UA’s history and the third in the last 10 years. Mallory Hayes of Huntsville was a Rhodes Scholar in 1995 and Carl Stanley McGee of Selma was a Rhodes Scholar in 1992. Others have included Hoke Perkins of Decatur in 1976 and Dwight Eddins, also of Decatur, in 1966. Eddins is now a professor of English at UA.

A student in UA’s University Honors Program, Tuggle is an English literature major who hopes to become a college professor. He served as poetry editor of the Marr’s Field Journal, UA’s undergraduate literary magazine, during his junior year and was also on the staff of the magazine during his sophomore year. He has also been involved with “Lyrics for Literacy,” a poetry-reading fundraiser sponsored by the English honorary Sigma Tau Delta to benefit Tuscaloosa’s Project Literacy.

Tuggle is the son of Tim and Wanda Tuggle of Decatur. As a senior at Decatur’s Austin High School, he was selected for The Birmingham News’ Academic All-State Team.

The Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902, are the oldest international study awards available to American students and are considered the most prestigious of liberal arts scholarships. Only 32 Rhodes Scholars are selected each year.

Quote from University of Alabama President Andrew Sorensen:
“We congratulate Brad Tuggle on this outstanding accomplishment. Being awarded the Rhodes Scholarship reflects very well not only on Brad himself but on the faculty and the quality of education offered at The University of Alabama. The University has a strong record of success in national scholarship competition with students in recent years winning not only the Rhodes, but also the prestigious Goldwater, Truman, Javitz and Lilly awards. As our third Rhodes Scholar in the last 10 years and the 15th in the history of the University, Brad joins an elite group of students who have represented The University of Alabama extremely well.”