Impact of International Affairs Budget on the 50 U.S. States Includes Study Abroad, International Student Economic Impact and Peace Corps Data

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) has a great website with a list of the 50 U.S. states and by clicking on a state you can see what USGLC activities are taking place, find out the impact of the International Affairs Budget on a community and to learn how you can get involved. Both IIE Open Doors mentioning number of students studying abroad and economic impact of international students as well as Peace Corps data cited!

USGLC website available at http://bit.ly/2ne9c6W

March 1, 1961 - President Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps

On October 14, 1960 at 2:00am, Senator John F. Kennedy speaks to ~10,000 students at the University of Michigan proposes the idea of the Peace Corps. You can read more about this historic speech via the Founding Moment page of the Peace Corps website.  

You can listen to Kennedy's speech below:

"Conversations" - A New Peace Corps Public Service Announcement

The Peace Corps recently produced this excellent PSA entitled "Conversations" about a returned Volunteer trying to explain his experiences to people that just don't understand.  Now, I was not a Peace Corps Volunteer so I can't relate with what I can only imagine is an awesome experience.  However, I think many study abroad students go through similar experiences upon their return home.  I know I had similar experiences after my two exchange program experiences to Rosenheim, Germany in high school and after my study abroad experience in Valladolid, Spain during college.  To be sure, my experiences in Germany and Spain were nothing like what a Peace Corps Volunteer experiences...



You can read more about this and other recent Peace Corps PSA's on the Peace Corps website here.

Uchicago Future Peace Corps Volunteers Facebook Group

Yesterday I decided to produce a week long series here on IHEC Blog focusing on internationalization in The College at The University of Chicago where I work.  As I was strolling through the halls of Harper Memorial Library looking for items to take pictures of I came across an interesting sign for the Peace Corps.  This wasn’t about an upcoming informational session/meeting for prospective students.  Rather, it was a sign for a new Facebook book called the Uchicago Future Peace Corps Volunteers Facebook Group.  The University of Chicago is consistently a top producer of Peace Corps Volunteers each year and I have posted to IHEC Blog about that in the past (read here).  I copied and pasted information about the group below:

 We are a group of students that are interested in community service, raising awareness about global issues, and providing knowledge and support for any member of the University who is interested in the Peace Corps. We hope to: 

*promote existing service opportunities for University students that are in line with Peace Corps values--meeting service needs and promoting better cross-cultural understanding--while also creating new opportunities to meet community deficits.

* provide all undergraduates with knowledge about the Corps as a post-graduation path, as well as the skills and resources necessary to become the best candidates for Peace Corps selection.

* reach out to current University of Chicago alums serving in the Peace Corps by grant writing and fundraising in support of their community service projects in order to promote a culture of global volunteerism.

I wonder what impact this Facebook group will have on the number of Peace Corps applicants from the University of Chicago?


Photo credit: http://davidcomp.wordpress.com/

Spreading of Colonial Influence Abroad via the Peace Corps

I recently came across an interesting article from March 12th written by Spencer Janyck in the WhitmanCollegePioneer entitled “The Peace Corps Spreads Colonial Influence Abroad”. Spencer writes “The United States has a long and sorbid history of colonization and destruction of other people and other ways of life that we have deemed “inappropriate” and “savage”…I see the Peace Corps largely as modern-day missionaries, taking up the civilized man’s burden and traveling abroad to teach others precisely what’s wrong with their societies.”

Just under two weeks ago I posted part of a promotional video from March 1961 of President Kennedy outlining the Peace Corps Program. The first time I watched/listened to the video I was taken aback by something the commentator said within the first 25 seconds of the video. Specifically, part of the video that stated “interest in President Kennedy’s proposed Peace Corps continues to rise among American youth. Here are the forerunners of the Peace Corps, American exchange students now overseas in backwards and depressed areas of the world…” made we stop to think “backwards in the eyes of whom?”

I fully support the Peace Corps and have blogged about it a few times on this blog. I wanted to post about this interesting view about the Peace Corps to see what IHEC Blog readers think. Where do you stand on the Peace Corps?

Video of President Kennedy Outlining Peace Corps Program in March 1961

Many IHEC Blog readers know of my interest in the history of international exchanges and public diplomacy efforts. I came across the following YouTube video which is a partial newsreel of President Kennedy introducing the Peace Corps. I hope you find this video snippet interesting.




Please see my previous posts on the Peace Corps here.

Reestablishing The Peace Corps Program in Indonesia

During the February 5, 2009 daily press briefing at the U.S. Department of State, Robert Wood, Acting Spokesman, answered a question about Secretary Clinton’s interest in reestablishing the Peace Corps program in Indonesia (which was cancelled after two years of operation) by saying that this is something that she will be looking this possibility. This fits well with President Obama’s campaign pledge to double the number of Peace Corps volunteers.

More Peace Corps

Today I’m posting twice on matters related to the Peace Corps. This second Peace Corps post is to bring attention to the More Peace Corps movement which is working to collect 25,000 signatures on a petition to support, actually remind, Barack Obama of his frequent pledge during the presidential campaign to double the number of Peace Corps volunteers. If you are in support of increasing the Peace Corps I encourage you to visit the More Peace Corps website to learn more about the movement and to sign the petition.

While navigating the website I came across a very interesting (and telling) statement from the January 13, 2009 article on the News & Events page entitled Two Hundred Peace Corps Volunteers to March in Inaugural Parade. The sentence follows:

“Representatives of the Peace Corps Community have applied for each Inaugural Parade in recent history and last participated in 1997.”

A clear statement of the Bush Administration position on citizen diplomacy on his very first day in office.

University of Chicago Top Producer of Peace Corps Volunteers for Second Consecutive Year

For the second consecutive year, the University of Chicago is the top producer of Peace Corps Volunteers for Small Colleges and Universities with 35. This accomplishment not only demonstrates the achievements made by Chicago students but also the global engagement of the students in their service and scholarship. The University of Chicago has also been very successful in recent years in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program with more students and alumni from the undergraduate College receiving Fulbright grants than the graduate students. You can read my previous blog post on the top producing institutions of Fulbright U.S. Student grants for 2008-2009 here.

The University of Washington (large college and university category) with 104 volunteers and George Washington University (medium college and university category) with 57 volunteers should also be congratulated on being the top Peace Corps Volunteer producers for their respective categories. You can download the 2009 Peace Corps statistics here.