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UW tops in Peace Corps participation

January 28, 2000

Once again, the university is the No. 1 supplier of current Peace Corps volunteers in the nation.

UW–Madison currently has 117 alumni serving overseas, according to a survey released earlier today by the Peace Corps. The University of Colorado at Boulder ranks second with 91 volunteers and the University of Michigan ranks third with 78 volunteers. For the 12th year in a row now, UW–Madison has supplied the most volunteers in the nation to the Peace Corps.

Many UW–Madison faculty, staff and students are former Peace Corps volunteers. They include:

Richard Barrows, associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and professor of agricultural and applied economics. Barrows served from 1967-69 as an agricultural extension agent in Sierra Leone. Interestingly, the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is developing a master’s program with the Peace Corps, where students would attend classes at UW–Madison for one year before serving as a volunteer overseas. Students would earn their degree upon completion of their Peace Corps assignment

Roger Howard, interim associate vice chancellor for student affairs. Howard served in Tanzania from 1965-67 as a secondary school teacher. Howard’s wife, Laura, served in the Peace Corps from 1964-66 teaching elementary school in Liberia. Their daughter, Elisabeth, returned Saturday, Jan. 22, from her Peace Corps assignment in Mali, West Africa, where she worked as a community development specialist. She is a UW–Madison graduate with a bachelor’s in economics.

Eric Stonebraker, Peace Corps representative at UW–Madison and a graduate student at the university’s Institute for Environmental Studies. Stonebraker served in Siberia from 1995-97 working on environmental education. He is completing a master’s degree in land resources and energy policy.

John Torphy, vice chancellor for administration. Torphy was one of the first Peace Corps volunteers, having served in the Dominican Republic from 1962-64 as a community organizer and construction worker.