Rhodes Scholars, Lev Sviridov of CCNY, left, and Eugene Shenderov of Brooklyn College, both immigrants from former Soviet Union.

The wonderful, pride-boosting repercussions are still being felt across the University. In an historic development, two CUNY students three months ago won prestigious Rhodes scholarships, awarded every year to brilliant students with exceptional leadership skills.

Lev A. Sviridov of City College and Eugene Shenderov of Brooklyn College-both immigrants from the former Soviet Union-will study at the University of Oxford in England. It was the first time ever that two students from CUNY were named Rhodes Scholars.

In the United States, the only other universities with more than one Scholar in the recent group of awardees were: Harvard, the United States Naval Academy, M.I.T., Yale, the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia.

Chancellor Matthew Goldstein hailed the news as "historic" and fraught with significance for the University as it gains recognition for the academic advances it has made in recent years.

"Our newest Rhodes Scholars are shining examples of how CUNY today is renewing its enduring commitment to the advancement of immigrants-and all New Yorkers - through public higher education," Goldstein said.

Brooklyn College student Shenderov is a senior in the prestigious BA/MD program. The weekend the awards were announced he was on the beautiful sprawling campus where as president of the chess club he was hosting a blitz chess tournament. He is a graduate of Brooklyn's Murrow High School.

Shenderov is also a member of the Golden Key National Honors Society and a three-time letter-winner on the Brooklyn College varsity men's tennis team. His interest in cancer research evolved from his experience in the Ukraine, part of the old Soviet Union, when he was a boy. In 1986, as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster there, he developed leukemia. He came to the United States to receive treatment.

City College student Sviridov, a senior and chemistry major, said he will use the Rhodes scholarship to pursue a Masters of Science, doing research in inorganic chemistry, focusing on the crystalline properties of aerosols.

"I first became interested in chemistry in 1997 as a sophomore at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School," Sviridov recounted. "Then at CCNY, where I had the opportunity to do important research under the mentorship of outstanding faculty even as an undergraduate, I was hooked."

Sviridov, like Shenderov, was in Chernobyl in 1986 when disaster struck. The nuclear explosion triggered in him an interest in environmental research.

As is the case with so many students at New York City's public university, Sviridov overcame obstacles in life that might have seemed insurmountable to others. He and his mother were homeless for a time after their arrival in the United States. But the experience only strengthened him.

In addition to an outstanding academic record, Sviridov has been involved in governance and public affairs both on and off campus. He served in undergraduate student government for three years, including as president of the City College student body in 2003-2004.

City College President Gregory H. Williams said, "We could not be more proud of Lev, and no one deserves this honor more. An immigrant who came to America with nothing, he has received one of the highest academic honors open to a young man or woman. He stands for the great promise of The City College, and of public education."

If Sviridov is ever in need of a Rhodes Scholar role model to invigorate his political skills, he doesn't have far to look. About half a mile across town, to the east of the City College campus, on 125th Street, is the New York office of one of the nation's most high profile former Rhodes Scholars-ex-President Bill Clinton.

Speaking of Brooklyn College student Shenderov, President Christoph M. Kimmich said, "Eugene is a winner, an outstanding student, active in the college and the community, with a wide range of interests. For him, as for so many immigrants who preceded him here, Brooklyn College is the gateway into productive lives and satisfying careers."

The first Rhodes Scholar to hail from a CUNY school was James T. Molloy, a City College graduate who was awarded the scholarship in 1939. Raymond Peretzsky, a Queens College student, received one in 1982, and in 1991, Brooklyn College student Lisette Nieves, a philosophy and political science major, was selected.

The Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, British philanthropist and colonial pioneer.

This year, 32 Rhodes Scholars were chosen from the across the United States. They will join an international group of Scholars selected from other countries around the world. Approximately 95 Scholars are selected worldwide each year.