Students will have a new avenue to prepare for
work and career experience in the international realm.

TACOMA, Wash. – Young people flying into countries such as Mozambique or Guyana, or the Dominican Republic to volunteer are often surprised by how much they have to learn. There’s the local culture to understand, the language, and, perhaps most of all, the skills they will need before working with classes of children, women’s workshops, or local farmers.

To ensure its students who aim to work abroad are well-prepared, the University of Puget Sound is joining a league of about 50 like-minded colleges and universities and becoming a partner in the Peace Corps Prep program, run by the National Peace Corps.

 

As a Peace Corps Prep partner, Puget Sound will offer its students the opportunity to build their expertise in the field of international development—through coursework, professional experience, and study, work, or volunteer activities, at home or abroad. The certificate students earn from completing the program could help them get a foot on the career ladder or provide them with extra merit if they choose to apply to the Peace Corps following graduation.

“Our students’ interest in global affairs has long been a focal point for Puget Sound, helping shape our curriculum, our study abroad programs, and our co-curricular activities,” said Roy Robinson, director of international programs. “With the Peace Corps Prep program, we have another avenue to prepare motivated students for careers in international development and service or other forms of community engagement. We are excited to be underway with this, and we know our students will be, too.”

Puget Sound graduates are well-represented in the Peace Corps and have consistently kept the school high in top volunteer-producing schools' rankings. The national liberal arts college is tied as the No. 1 small school in 2016 and has been in the top 10 of the Peace Corps list every year, bar one, since 2001.

 

Peace Corps Prep is designed to be part of the undergraduate curriculum. It consists of experiential-based community service or work and selected courses. A team of Puget Sound faculty and staff members is currently shaping the program, intending to offer it to students in the 2016–17 academic year.  A diverse pool of students will be encouraged to apply, with no restrictions on their year of study or major.

Students who chose to participate will pick a sector that interests them from the below list. They will then take at least three courses that build their capacity to work in the sector. They will accumulate at least 50 hours of volunteer or work experience in the sector, at home or abroad, preferably in a teaching or outreach capacity. The sectors are:

- Education
- Health
- Environment
- Agriculture
- Youth in development
- Community economic development

Participants may need some skills in a language other than English. Minimum course requirements have been set for Spanish, French, and other languages, depending on where the student aims to work during his or her program. Applicants will also be required to take courses in diversity and inclusion or study marginalized groups; they will partner with career professionals to hone their résumé and interview skills, and they will have at least one leadership experience.

Puget Sound’s involvement in Peace Corps Prep promises multiple benefits: professional and career development for participating students, assistance for the host countries where students work or volunteer, and enhancing Puget Sound’s international outreach. The new program adds to a long list of international activities already undertaken by the school and its members.

The team working on the program includes Roy Robinson, director of international programs; Skylar Bihl ’08, assistant director of the Center for Intercultural and Civic Engagement; Matt Warning, professor of economics and global development studies; and Renee Houston, associate dean for experiential learning and civic scholarship.

To learn more about Peace Corps Prep, visit: peacecorps.gov/volunteer/university/pcprep/

For more about the Peace Corps Prep program at Puget Sound, contact: Roy Robinson, rrobinson@pugetsound.edu

More details about opportunities in Puget Sound’s Peace Corps Prep program will be posted, as they become available, on the Web pages of International Programs: pugetsound.edu/academics/international-programs/

Press photos of campus members volunteering overseas for the Peace Corps are available upon request.
Photos on page: From top right: Roy Robinson, director of international programs, with the Peace Corps in Benin (1992-94); Janece Levien '09 volunteering in Guatemala with the Peace Corps in 2015; Caitlin Van Patten '11 with two kids in Rwanda while volunteering with  the Peace Corps (2013-15)

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