Chicago has second highest number of Peace Corps volunteers actively working overseas

The University has the second highest number of active Peace Corps volunteers according to Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan.

He announced in January, the names of the colleges and universities with the largest number of volunteers currently serving overseas.

Chicago is in the small colleges and universities category (schools with less than 5,000 undergraduates).

Chicago has 23 volunteers and an undergraduate population of almost 3,700 students.

Top-ranked American University has 36 active volunteers and an undergraduate population of approximately 4,700 students.

“We hope to continue this spirit in the months ahead as we work to recruit a new generation of Peace Corps volunteers who will be serving overseas when the next millennium arrives,” said Gearan.

The Peace Corps plans to recruit more than 400 additional volunteers in 1999, most in education and health, which will bring the total number of active volunteers to more than 7,400 by the end of the fiscal year, the highest total since the end of 1974.

Currently, nearly 6,700 Peace Corps volunteers are serving in 80 countries, working to help fight hunger, bring clean water to communities, teach children, help start new small businesses and stop the spread of AIDS.