FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jan. 19, 2007

Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260

CSU, Chico Earns Top Ranking for Producing
Peace Corps Volunteers

The director of the Peace Corps, Ron Tschetter, recently informed President Paul Zingg, California State University, Chico, that the university is among the top 25 medium-size colleges and universities in the country that have alumni serving as peace corps volunteers. Presently there are 23 CSU, Chico alumni serving in 18 countries.

"These graduates are representing our country abroad by serving as Peace Corps volunteers," said Tschetter. "They are applying the skills and knowledge they acquired during their time at your institution to help improve the lives of people across the globe."

Since the inception of the Peace Corps in 1961, CSU, Chico has had more than 550 alumni serve as volunteers. One of the reasons that the Peace Corps appreciates CSU, Chico is that many of the special skills needed in underdeveloped countries are found in graduates of programs in agriculture, the environment, education, business development and health-strong areas of study at CSU, Chico.

"The kind of student that CSU, Chico produces," said Jim Moon, former vice president of Student Affairs and a former Peace Corps volunteer, "is a student that has been active in co-curricular activities and in service programs such as Community Action Volunteers in Education (CAVE). This is often the kind of student attracted to the Peace Corps." Moon served in Ethiopia from 1968 through 1970.

"We're very excited to see CSU, Chico make the ranks of Peace Corps' top universities. The campus has been very supportive of Peace Corps, and we have a great relationship with the career center," said Nathan Hale Sargent, public affairs specialist in the San Francisco recruiting office. "Every year, California produces more Peace Corps volunteers than any other state, and this year Chico ranks above some of California's large schools in the number of grads
going to serve around the world. Chico has the potential to fill some of the most sought-after skills around the world-especially in agriculture and education."

CSU, Chico grads work in every Peace Corps program. Current volunteers include one working in agriculture, five in environment, two in business development/IT, four in youth development, seven in education and three in health and HIV/AIDS.

Countries that the Chico graduate volunteers are now serving in include Ecuador, Ghana, Jamaica, Macedonia, Madagascar, Micronesia, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Paraguay, South Africa, Tanzania and Azerbaijan.

Anyone interested in learning more about Peace Corps can visit the Web site: www.peacecorps.gov. Recruiter Veronica Standifird will be visiting the campus April 11-13.

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