Notre Dame ranks 12th in sending grads to Peace Corps
By HELENA PAYNE
News Editor
The Peace Corps recently ranked Notre Dame No. 12 in a list of medium-size colleges and universities that produced the most volunteers in 2002.
The University of Virginia, which sent 58 alumni volunteers to countries in 2002, topped the list. Cornell University with 50 alumni volunteers and Georgetown University with 47 were second and third.
Notre Dame, which sent 31 alumni volunteers in 2002 to various countries, has a culture of service that is compatible with the Peace Corps, according to Scot Roskelley, public affairs specialist for the Chicago Regional Office of the Peace Corps.
"Notre Dame just has a very strong service ethic that the Peace Corps appreciates," Roskelley said. "It permeates many of the different programs both academic and student organizations."
Strong international programs also draw students to the Peace Corps, Roskelley said, pointing out the success of the University of Michigan — Ann Arbor, which ranked second on the list of large colleges and universities.
"They promote Peace Corps a lot and that really makes such a big difference on large campuses," Roskelley said. The list considers schools with more than 15,000 undergraduates, like Michigan, to be large. Notre Dame is medium-size, falling between 5,001 and 15,000 undergraduates. Small schools have less than 5,000 undergraduates. The University of Wisconsin — Madison, tops the large school list and Tufts University leads the small colleges and universities.
Considering Notre Dame's size, with roughly 8,000 undergraduate students, Notre Dame spokesman Matt Storin said the ranking is impressive.
"We're proud to have such a good association with the Peace Corps," he said.
Storin said Notre Dame became the site where the first Peace Corps were trained in 1961, after President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order for its establishment. Since then, the University has sent 645 volunteers to nations hosting the Peace Corps. Each year, roughly 10 percent of students work in paid or unpaid community service following graduation. About 75 percent of undergraduates participate in service projects while at Notre Dame. Storin attributes this to the University's Catholic tradition.
The Peace Corps is still a governmental organization that currently has 6,678 volunteers in 70 countries. Volunteers work in the areas of education, agriculture, environmental science, community development, business and health.
According to Roskelley, the Corps is seeking students who have degrees in the above areas and those who have had at least one semester of French. However, all volunteers do not have to work in the area in which they obtained their degree.
Although a degree is not required for the Peace Corps, 86 percent of its volunteers have an undergraduate degree.
More information is available at peacecorps.gov.
All News Stories for Thursday, February 6, 2003
