Peace Corps Ranks Middlebury #7

Among Small Schools: 318 Middlebury

Alumni Have Joined the Peace Corps

In a letter to Middlebury College President

John McCardell, Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan recently announced

that Middlebury ranks seventh among all small colleges and universities

producing Peace Corps volunteers. The Peace Corps defines small

colleges and universities as those schools with less than 5,000

undergraduates. In the Peace Corps’ 36-year history, 318 Middlebury

alumni have joined its world-wide effort.

“Throughout its history, the Peace

Corps can trace much of its success to the energy and idealism

that college students…have brought to the agency,” Gearan

wrote in his letter to President McCardell. “You and the

faculty at Middlebury can take great pride in having instilled

in your students a spirit of service and a sense of adventure.

By serving as Peace Corps Volunteers, your alumni have made a

difference in the lives of people overseas and here at home.”

On the list of small colleges and universities

that have historically produced the most Peace Corps volunteers,

the University of Chicago with 519 volunteers tops the list, followed

by Dartmouth College with 482 volunteers, and Oberlin College

in Ohio with 407 volunteers. Tufts University in Medford, Mass.,

ranks fourth with 359 of its graduates having joined the Peace

Corps, and Carleton College is fifth with 354 volunteers. Number

six is Saint Olaf College. The University of Rochester, Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, and Emory University, respectively, round

out the top 10.

Today, nearly 6,600 Peace Corps volunteers

are serving in 87 countries, working to help fight hunger, bring

clean water to communities, teach children, start new small businesses,

and prevent the spread of AIDS. Since

1961, more than 150,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps.