Virginia Tech has been ranked in the top 25 nationally on the list of large colleges and universities with alumni currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers. The list is compiled annually and represents the 42 Tech alumni currently working as volunteers with the Peace Corps.

Tech has its own recruiting office, headed by Doug Appler, a graduate student in Urban and Public Affairs who recently completed a Peace Corps experience in Guatemala. Appler is part of Tech's Masters International Program (MIP), a degree program set up between the Peace Corps and the university to allow students to make a volunteer experience with the Peace Corps part of earning a master's degree. This program is set up in over 40 schools across the country to allow students to link a Peace Corps experience with a degree in an area such as English, natural resources, public health as well as several others.

The program, initiated in 1998, provides an opportunity to work with countries that are in need. Students complete one year of academic coursework, then spend two years completing a Peace Corps experience, followed by one semester for completion of their coursework.

"We are very pleased to have so many volunteers from our university community who have responded to President Bush's Jan. 2002 nationwide call for Americans to work overseas with the goal of promoting world peace and friendship by helping to train individuals in their host country and educating them about the United States. The program that we offer at Tech serves to encourage this spirit of service and volunteerism," states Dr. Charles Steger, president of Virginia Tech.

John Browder, coordinator of the MIP and professor in urban affairs and planning, said, "In my opinion, the MIP is an example of the way we should be approaching all graduate education. The sandwiching of a graduate program around a deep, broad experience with a volunteer organization will make our alumni more mature, productive, and successful." Browder is the head of only one of five urban planning MIP programs in the country. These programs allow the Peace Corps to place students where their skills will be used, as well as help students get specific experiences related to their major.

Enrolling in a master's program is not the only way to get involved with the Peace Corps, however. Appler's office handles all potential volunteers in Southwest Virginia. Appler said that although many people seem to think that the right time to join the Peace Corps is right out of college, he has been getting growing interest from an older population. "Getting students right out of college is great, but getting volunteers that are in their 30s and 40s or even older is wonderful also because they have life experience to bring to the program," he said.

Both Browder and Appler emphasized that an experience with the Peace Corps is a transforming experience. "After going to a country where virtually no one speaks your language and amenities are in very short supply and you still feel that you've made a difference, this gives you the confidence to come back to the United States and try to make a difference here also," Appler said.

To obtain more information about the MIP in Urban Studies, contact John Browder at browder@vt.edu, or (540) 231-6217. More information can also be found at the program's website at www.uap.vt.edu/academics/mip.

For more information about Peace Corps recruiting, contact Doug Appler at peacecor@vt.edu or (540) 231-4266, or stop by the recruiting office at 220 Femoyer Hall on Virginia Tech's campus.

Written by Katie West, Intern in the Office of University Relations

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