West Virginia University continued the tradition of endorsing its exceptional students for one of the nation’s most prestigious academic awards this fall through the nomination of two seniors for the Rhodes Scholarship.

Now, one of those seniors has been selected as a finalist for the globally-revered award.

Clara Beth Novotny of Falling Waters will travel to Chicago Nov. 20-21 to be interviewed by the District XI Committee of Selection. She is the first WVU nominee to advance as a finalist since Chelsea Hodgkins in 2013.

Novotny is a Foundation Scholar and an Honors College student. She is a dual major in biochemistry through the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and Spanish through the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

Novotny is fascinated by the English medical system. She plans to study clinical embryology and tropical medicine at Oxford if selected as a Rhodes Scholar.

WVU has produced 25 Rhodes Scholars since 1904.

For more information on the Rhodes Scholarship or WVU scholarship processes, please visit the ASPIRE website at http://aspire.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

hr/10/30/15

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