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'U' among top 10 in producing Peace Corps volunteers

Photo courtesy of International Studies and Programs A group of past and current Peace Corps volunteers in Armenia at Zvartnots Temple at the base of Mt. Ararat. Front row left to right: Gina Angelella, Patricia Butler, Jamie Slater, David Barshes. Back row, left to right: Kate Bante, Nick Spina, James Applegate.

By Ike Val Iyioke

MSU is among the nation’s top 10 producers of Peace Corps volunteers from large colleges and universities.

MSU has 71 alumni overseas volunteers, representing the ninth highest total in the country. Since the inception of the Peace Corps in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, MSU has sent more than 2,000 volunteers to 135 countries, the fifth most of any university.

This year’s list was topped by the University of Washington with 110 volunteers, followed by the University of Wisconsin (Madison), and the University of Colorado (Boulder), with 106 and 100 respectively.

“Through its volunteers, the Peace Corps presents the face of America to people around the world. Our success is directly attributable to the outstanding support we receive from Michigan State University,” according to Ron Tschetter, director of the Peace Corps office in Washington D.C.

“More than 7,700 volunteers are currently at 67 posts serving 73 countries, an increase of 1,000 in the field since 2002, and more than 20 percent of those volunteers work in predominantly Muslim countries,” he said.

Overall, 86 percent of volunteers have an undergraduate degree and 12 percent have graduate degrees or have studied at the graduate level. During the past 46 years, the majority of volunteers in the Peace Corps have been college graduates.
Volunteers spend two years working in diverse fields such as education, agriculture and construction. Volunteers have the option to extend for two additional years.

About half of the current MSU volunteers work in Africa while the rest are spread across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, Asia and Pacific Islands.

MSU alumnus Jacob Slusser is serving in Panama. “My primary project is working in a collaborative reforestation project with a nongovernmental organization, called PRORENA, a collaborative effort between the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Yale School of Forestry. I help manage small reforestation projects with resource poor farmers,” he said.

In Sarah Weilant’s case, an MSU alumna serving in Senegal, a previous study abroad experience played a role. “I decided to become a volunteer after having studied abroad in Senegal in my third year at MSU. Throughout my life, I’ve always wanted to help people through a physical presence and giving of knowledge rather than just supporting people in need with a check,” she said.

The MSU Peace Corps Office is working to increase the number of volunteers by drawing on the experiences of the Mid-Michigan Peace Corps Group, an organization made up of former Peace Corps volunteers from the Mid-Michigan area.  

The MSU Peace Corps Recruiting Office is located in Room 4 International Center. For more information, call (517) 432-7474, or e-mail msupeace@msu.edu. To visit the Web site, go to www.isp.msu.edu/peacecorps