TROY, Mich. -- A Michigan woman has been named one of the 32 Americans chosen to represent the country as a Rhodes Scholar.

Jean Junior, of Troy, is a graduate of Troy High School. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 2008 and is currently a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa doing research in an HIV/AIDS program in KwaZulu-Natal.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Junior will be given an opportunity to study at the University of Oxford in England in October 2010.

The scholarship was created in 1902 by British philanthropist and African colonial pioneer Will of Cecil Rhodes. The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904.

Scholars are chosen first by an endorsement from their college or university. Then, scholars are interviewed based on academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor.

Read: About Rhodes Scholars