December 3, 1997
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.