Boston University ranked 24th among large schools in the U.S. Peace Corps’ annual list of top volunteer-producing colleges and universities, one rank higher than its 2014 slot, according to a Wednesday press release.
Carrie Hessler-Radelet, the director of the Peace Corps, said in the release that volunteering with the organization gives students opportunities to apply their skills and make a difference after graduation.
“Volunteers make lasting change by living and working at the grassroots level in their communities of service and using their talents to tackle some of the most critical challenges in international development,” she said in the release.
Thirty BU alumni are currently volunteering for the Peace Corps in locations including Columbia, Indonesia and Uganda and in areas such as education, agriculture, health and economic development, the release stated.
Joe Anzalone, the program coordinator for BU’s Peace Corps/Master’s International Program in the School of Public Health, which combines the Master of Public Health program with 27 months of field experience with the Peace Corps, said the program is one of the first of its kind in the country.
“What we allow people to do is to meet some of their degree requirements while they’re in Peace Corps,” he said. “They’re allowed to work with faculty while overseas to get some credits directed towards the degree.”
Anzalone said BU’s consistent place on the list reflects well on the university and its students.
“That we’re consistently on the list, that says that students who graduate from BU are willing to serve in that global capacity that the Peace Corps allows people to do,” he said. “They’re interested in their community and the world.”
Gilbert Bonsu, a former Peace Corps volunteer and BU alumnus, participated in the MI program and began volunteering in South Africa in 2013. Bonsu said he was somewhat surprised by the ranking because BU is primarily seen as a community for Returning Peace Corps Volunteers.
“BU being a top 25 [volunteer] producer and choice for RPCV says that the institution provides course, dialogue, personnel and opportunities that PCVs and RPCV deem important,” he wrote in an email.
Bonsu said he credits the BU MI Program for providing him with a better understanding of the health issues and system.
“I was also able to help my host organization on technical matters,” he said. “My academic experience was an intellectual and academic growth. My classmates and professors came from diverse background, thus it made every dialogue interesting and thoughtful. People approached problems from all angles, from medical perspective to that of politics.”
