Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – William Lieber, a 2025 Duke graduate from Springfield, and an alumnus of Glenwood High School, was one of 32 recipients of a very special scholarship, and was chosen from more than 800 applicants across the U.S. 

The Rhodes Scholarship, established in 1902, provides two years of graduate study at Oxford University in England.

According to a news release from Duke, Lieber is a fifth generation Illinoisan, raised in a farming family. He graduated from Duke in May with a Bachelor of Arts in Health & Incarceration—a course of study at the intersection of the medical sciences, ethics, education, and criminal and restorative justice.

Lieber has co-led programs in prisons throughout North Carolina focused on education. However, while at Duke, he collaborated with Duke Hospital and the Durham Sheriff’s Office to examine insurance among re-arrested patients.

As a transfer student from Illinois Wesleyan University, Lieber served as the Project Transfer Program Director through Duke’s Office of New Student and Family Programs and is also the co-author of six publications. However, he is currently employed at Schneider Construction Company.

“Through his scholarship, professional activities, and engagement in the community, Will Lieber exemplifies the ideals of public service and advocacy for others,” said Duke University President Vincent E. Price, in a news release. “His boundary-spanning work on health and incarceration demonstrates the power of the interdisciplinary and experiential learning opportunities that Will pursued with great enthusiasm at Duke. I’m confident his will be a life and career of significant impact and benefit to others, and I look forward to all that Will shall accomplish at Oxford and beyond.”

Through the Rhodes Scholarship, Lieber has chosen to pursue a Master of Science degree in both Education as well as Criminology and Criminal Justice at Oxford.