The Peace Corps has announced its annual listing of the colleges and universities that have the most alumni serving as volunteers in its ranks. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has 90 graduates working in the Peace Corps, more than any other college or university in the United States. The University of Washington and the University of Florida tied for second place with 85 graduates currently serving in the Peace Corps.
Historically Black College and Universities are not well represented on the list of schools that send a lot of graduates to the Peace Corps. Howard University in Washington, D.C. was the only HBCU that made the list of the top 25 in the three categories of large universities, medium-size colleges and universities and small colleges and universities. This year there are 18 graduates from Howard University working in the Peace Corps. This puts Howard in 16th place on the list of medium-size colleges and universities that have 5,000 to 15,000 undergraduate students. The leading school in this category was Western Washington University, which has 65 graduates serving in the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps is trying to increase the diversity of its volunteers. A survey conducted several years ago found that only 3 percent of Peace Corps volunteers were African Americans. More than 40 percent of all Peace Corps volunteers serve in Africa.
