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The Indiana Daily Student

academics & research

SPEA partners with Peace Corps

For about a decade, the School of Public and Environmental Affairs has provided a place for returning Peace Corps volunteers to get a graduate education.  

SPEA has a strong and long-standing relationship with the Peace Corps, said Jim Hanchett, director of the Office of Marketing and Communications. Two programs are offered at IU to those interested in the Corps: Master’s International and the Coverdell Fellows.  

The Master’s International program enables students to incorporate the in-country experience of the Peace Corps and the academic training of SPEA’s master’s degree
programs, according to information from the school.

Candidates may seek admission in any of SPEA’s masters programs, and after
admission they are encouraged to pursue a concentration in energy, environmental policy and natural resource management or sustainable development.

The volunteers attend a year of graduate classes and have to complete two years of in-country Peace Corps service.  

“The program was started in 2008 and developed in collaboration with the Peace Corps,”  said Jennifer Forney, director of graduate student services in SPEA. “It allows students to study and commit Peace Corps service. We currently have 10 MI’s.”

The other program available is the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows. The Coverdell program allows Return Peace Corps Volunteers to continue their dedication to community service while pursuing a master’s degree through SPEA, according to a flyer from the school. The program allows students to address the local community’s civic and service needs through collaboration among SPEA, IU’s Office of Student Financial Assistance and community partners.

“The Coverdell Fellows program was started in 2005 by Return Peace Corp Volunteers so they could have a program where they could pursue education but still work in the service corps,” Forney said.  “We currently have 12 Coverdell Fellows in SPEA.”

These two programs make IU special because of the opportunities they offer for master’s students through the Peace Corps, Forney said. In fact, IU is among the top 10 universities to have students advance into service abroad, she said.

One of the students with real-life experience with the Peace Corps is RPCV president Erin Culp.  

Culp works with return volunteers to do different things, such as making presentations about the Peace Corps, recruiting and mentoring new volunteers and answering questions about the Corps. In addition, Culp, and RPCV as a whole, is also there to acclimate volunteers returning to the United States.

“Coming back to America after two years is just as hard as going abroad,” Culp said. “Volunteers can share their experiences, and you can get reassurance that you’re not going crazy.”

Culp’s experience with the Corps includes service in the Republic of Moldova as an English teacher in a small village of about 2,000 Romanian speaking-people, where
she taught grades four through 12.

“Part of my focus was to teach but also to help teachers teach better,” Culp said.

“Many of the teachers there had never spoken to a native English speaker and would revert back to Romanian. I would make them talk to me in English so that they got better.”

Culp said she enjoyed sharing her abilities and that sharing of different cultures is very important. But in order to do that, the Peace Corps needs volunteers.
Although the programs offered at IU are for master’s students, getting prepared for them is important.

“Build experience volunteering and in leadership,” Culp said.  

The recruiter for the Peace Corps program returns once a semester, and though she won’t be back again until fall, Culp encourages students to contact her so she can give information about how to be a part of the program.  

“The most important thing isn’t what you have done but what you can do,” Culp said.

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