The Peace Corps has announced that Ohio State ranked No. 6 among large schools on the agency’s 2018 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list. There are 62 Buckeyes currently volunteering worldwide. Since the agency’s founding in 1961, 1,821 Buckeyes have served in communities around the world.
This is the third year that Ohio State has ranked among the top 10 large schools. During the last three years, Ohio State has been climbing in the ranks, appearing at No. 10 in 2016 and No. 9 in 2017.
“Peace Corps service is a profound expression of the idealism and civic engagement that colleges and universities across the country inspire in their alumni,” said Acting Peace Corps Director Sheila Crowley. “As Peace Corps Volunteers, recent college and university graduates foster capacity and self-reliance at the grassroots level, making an impact in communities around the world. When they return to the United States, they have new, highly sought-after skills and an enterprising spirit that further leverages their education and strengthens their communities back home.”
Peace Corps has worked with the Office of International Programs in Agriculture, within Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, since 1974 to host an on-campus recruiter who educates Ohio State students about the application process and also to share their personal experience as a returned volunteer to the campus community. Gail Messick, an Ohio State alum who served in the East Caribbean and Swaziland, currently serves as the Ohio State campus Peace Corps recruiter and can be reached at peacecorps@osu.edu.
Alumni from more than 3,000 colleges and universities nationwide have served in the Peace Corps. Ohio State is only one of two Ohio schools to make the list.
The Peace Corps ranks its top volunteer-producing colleges and universities annually according to the size of the student body. View the complete 2018 rankings of the top 25 schools in each category here and find an interactive map that shows where alumni from each college and university are serving here.
Where Ohio State Alums Are Serving in the Peace Corps Around the Globe!
About the Peace Corps: The Peace Corps sends Americans with a passion for service abroad on behalf of the United States to work with communities and create lasting change. Volunteers develop sustainable solutions to address challenges in education, health, economic development, agriculture, environment and youth development. Through their Peace Corps experience, Volunteers gain a unique cultural understanding and a life-long commitment to service that positions them to succeed in today's global economy. Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961, more than 230,000 Americans of all ages have served in 141 countries worldwide. For more information, visit peacecorps.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.