Candidates for the Rhodes are judged on their academic record, community service involvement and athletics.

At Yale University, where Tolmie spent 4 years, she earned both her bachelors' and a masters' degree in English. She also headed the university's chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW).

In addition to serving as a NOW liaison at Harvard, she also volunteers for a women's shelter in Cambridge.

Tolmie is an accomplished athlete in the martial arts, having earned the highest level within karate's brown belt category.

She and another graduate student at the Divinity School head the Harvard Karate Club, where she teaches karate to other students.

Tolmie said she used her experience as an instructor of the martial arts to guide herself through the Rhodes examination.

"I went into the exam very aggressively, in the same way I do when I'm teaching karate," she said.

Chair of the English Department Leo Damrosch, who is also Bernbaum professor of literature, said that he had been very impressed by Tolmie's performance in her graduate oral exam.

"She seemed to me an ideal candidate [for the Rhodes]," he said.

Still, Harris said that when he first heard about Tolmie's award, he was concerned for Harvard.

"My first thought was the fear that Harvard will lose her to Oxford," he said.

However, Tolmie said that he has no reason to worry.

"I'm pretty sure that I'll come back," she said.

Tolmie's honor came one week after the announcement of the five other award designees from Harvard. Four of those recipients were undergraduates from America, and the fifth was a Canadian graduate student at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Each year, a total of 11 Canadian Rhodes scholarships are awarded independently by region.