UK to Host Panel of Returned Volunteers for National Peace Corps Week
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 3, 2020) — Since 1961, more than 240,000 U.S. citizens have served the global community as Peace Corps volunteers — living and working alongside local leaders to create change. Now, the University of Kentucky campus community can discover the benefits of Peace Corps service from those who have returned from service.
On Wednesday, March 4, the International Center will host an information session as part National Peace Corps week, which celebrates the initiation of the Peace Corps by John F. Kennedy on March 1, 1961. The session will take place at 4 p.m. in Room 202 of the Stuckert Career Center and will include a panel of returning Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) and Peace Corps recruiter, Carlos Jean Baptiste.
The Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motivated change-makers to immerse themselves in a community abroad. Volunteers work hand in hand with local professionals and leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges being faced by the community and current generations.
During this information session, Baptiste will give an overview of the Peace Corps, and the RPCVs will host a Q&A to talk about their experiences in the service and how to join. The volunteer panel will consist of Madison Batt (RPCV Uganda), Jessica Byassee (RPCV Tanzania), Spencer Cruse (RPCV Uganda), Rona Roberts (RPCV Philippines) and Angene Wilson (RPCV Liberia).
“My experience as a Peace Corps volunteer was the most important transformational moment in my life,” Russell E. Morgan Jr., a RPCV, said. “These first-hand experiences gave me a glimpse of the need for public health improvements in developing communities and served as an underpinning of education and economic growth.”
This spring, UK launched the Peace Corps Prep program, which offers a certificate program for undergraduate students to develop skills in foreign language proficiency, intercultural competence and leadership. The program prepares students to become engaged, global citizens as Peace Corps volunteers or professionals in international development.
“Peace Corps service can be the first step toward a career or the continuation of a life’s work by sharpening existing skills or being challenged with new opportunities,” Craig Borie, director of Peace Corps Prep, said. “Peace Corps service benefits include unique opportunities to help others as part of a community, work for the world, learn a new language or improve language skills and grow as a person.”
Since 1961, UK has sent 346 UK graduates to serve in the Peace Corps in one of the following sectors: education, health, environment, agriculture, youth in development and community economic development.
For more information on Peace Corps opportunities at UK, you can visit the International Center website or contact Craig Borie.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.