Providence College Among Peace Corps’ 2018 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE AMONG PEACE CORPS’ 2018 TOP VOLUNTEER-PRODUCING COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
Only RI School Chosen in Small Schools Category
February 21, 2018 – Today, the Peace Corps announced that Providence College (PC) ranked No. 16 among small schools on the agency’s 2018 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list. There are 11 Friars currently volunteering worldwide.
This is the first year in at least a decade that PC has ranked among the top 25 small schools; they were the only RI college chosen in the Small Schools Category. A total of 237 PC alumni have served in the Peace Corps since the agency was founded in 1961. Alumni from more than 3,000 colleges and universities nationwide have served in the Peace Corps since the agency’s founding. Rhode Island ranked No. 4 among volunteer-producing states per capita in 2017, with 45 Rhode Islanders currently serving.
“More and more we are seeing that our students don’t want to just learn about the world, they want to make a difference in the world—and our globally and publicly engaged curriculum at PC helps them to make this connection,” said Nicholas Longo, professor of global studies and chair of Public and Community Service Studies. “Our students are engaging with global issues locally starting in freshman year, and then we’ve seen a large increase in international courses and study abroad. As a result, our alumni are well prepared for the kinds of sensitive, cross-cultural engagement necessary to be an effective Peace Corps member and it’s great to see that so many of our alumni are choosing to serve in this capacity.”
