Harvard students have continued the University's tradition of dominating the Rhodes Scholarship competition this year, winning four of 32 American Rhodes Scholarships for 1998.

The Harvard students are Roy E. Bahat '98 of Leverett House, Valerie J. MacMillan '98 of Adams House, Julia Raiskin '98 of Pforzheimer House and Owen S. Wozniak '98 of Quincy House.

Harvard topped the list with the most winners from one school.

Fellowships Director at the Office of Career Services (OCS) Paul A. Bohlmann, said that he was "extraordinarily happy" for the four people who won, and that Harvard students typically do extremely well in the Rhodes Scholarship competition.

"I think it's important to put this in perspective," Bohlmann said. "Harvard is one of 300 or so school nominating candidates. To have four out of 32 is phenomenal."

"The average number of Harvard students becoming Rhodes scholars annually is 5.3, Bohlmann said.

"The low number is zero, and the high number is 10," he said.

Rhodes scholarships were established in 1904 by the estate of Cecil Rhodes, a British philanthropist and colonialist. The names of the winners were announced Saturday by the Rhodes Scholarship Trust at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif.

The winners will receive two-year post-baccalaureate scholarships to attend Oxford University in England next fall.

Bahat, a social studies concentrator and president of Phillips Brooks House Association, said he will be studying urban economics at Oxford.

"I think it's important to understand where jobs are created, where people decide to live," said Bahat, who helped create a Washington D.C. program providing educational support for families living in public housing.

"I plan to work somewhere in cities, either in a community organization or a city government," he said. On being asked whether he planned to return to New York City, the native New Yorker had one word: definitely.

MacMillan, a government concentrator, said that she plans to obtain two masters degrees at Oxford, one in environmental management and the other in industrial relations and human resource management.

"I'm thrilled, it's wonderful," said MacMillan, who is also a Crimson executive. "I wasn't exactly prepared for this."

In the future, MacMillan wishes to be actively involved in American environmental policy.