|
February 2, 2004
UCSC ranks fourth in number of graduates serving
in the Peace Corps
By Louise Donahue
With 52 volunteers, UCSC has been ranked fourth among mid-sized institutions
for the number of its former students serving in the Peace Corps.
|
|
| UCSC graduate Ravi Dutta relaxes with his little
host brothers and sisters in the southern African nation of Namibia,
where he is a Peace Corps volunteer. |
More and more college graduates are joining the Peace Corps, with
top-ranking institutions having, on average, 15 percent more of their
alumni become volunteers than last year. UCSC did twice that well, with
a 30 percent increase over last year’s total of 40 volunteers.
“UCSC is one of the few schools founded after the Peace Corps
was already established,” noted Dennis McMahon of the San Francisco
office of the Peace Corps, “but it has certainly made up for lost
time.”
McMahon said that in his experience, UCSC students are very socially
conscious and concerned about the world and how the United States represents
itself to the world. “I think that concern breeds a strong impulse
to want to do something about it, and the Peace Corps is one of the
avenues for that.”
For the tenth year in a row, the University of Wisconsin–Madison
had the highest number of alumni serving as Peace Corps volunteers with
142 volunteers, up from 123 last year. Leading the way in the medium-size
colleges and universities category, the University of Virginia held
its top ranking for a second year, increasing its number of alumni volunteers
serving from 68 to 75.
In the small colleges and universities category, the University of
Chicago moved from third to first place with 34 alumni serving, up from
24 last year. Schools are ranked according to the size of the student
body. Small schools are those with less than 5,000 undergraduates, medium-size
schools are those between 5,001 and 15,000 undergraduates, and large
schools are those with more than 15,000 undergraduates.
Other UC campuses also were listed, in the large-college category.
UC Berkeley ranked sixth, UC Santa Barbara was in a three-way tie for
eighth, and UCLA was fifteenth.
There are currently 7,533 Peace Corps volunteers serving in the field,
the highest level since 1974. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens
and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a two-year commitment.
A schedule of informational meetings at UCSC about the Peace Corps
is available online.
Return to Front Page
|