Yvonne Wood traveled to her mother's native Colombia when she was about 5 years old. But it's not her own memories that stayed with her through the years — it was the stories her mother told her about her own childhood.

Wood, an environmental studies and applications senior wants to travel back to Latin America by serving in the Peace Corps.

"My life is completely different than any of my (Colombian) relatives," she said. "I felt compelled to do some work internationally."

Dozens of alumni serve in the Peace Corps each year, and for the third year in a row, MSU ranked No. 8 among large universities that produced the most Peace Corps volunteers in 2005.

"MSU has a huge, long history of being involved with the Peace Corps, and being on the top of the Peace Corps' listing is something we've always wanted to build on," MSU's recruiter Lisa Robinson said.

With 71 volunteers last year, MSU was one of four Big Ten universities to make the top 10 in the "Large Colleges and Universities" category — which includes schools with more than 15,000 undergraduate students.

University of Wisconsin-Madison ranked No. 1 for the 20th consecutive year, with 104 volunteers.

"The concept of giving back to the community — even the global community — is a good value to have," said Scot Roskelley, spokesman for the Peace Corps' Chicago office. "And to have so many people willing to give up 27 months of their lives to help in developing countries reflects very well upon Michigan State."

With 2,005 MSU corps volunteers in the program's history, MSU also ranks fifth in the nation among colleges and universities for total volunteers, and such a history is due to the university's international focus — including the service-learning and study abroad experiences offered to students, Robinson said.

"It's integrated into the whole idea of what education is and how we need to have a global focus in our lives," Robinson said.

International relations senior Andrew Hewitt met Wood during a study abroad trip to Thailand last spring, and said this trip inspired him to join the corps.

"As we traveled around the region together, we saw a lot of things going on," Hewitt said.

Wood and Hewitt — who are getting married in June — will be stationed together, and they hope to leave in December or early next year, Hewitt said.

Wood said she wants to work with local farmers in sustainable agriculture technology during her service.

"Basically it's getting more income to go directly to the farmers so they can pay for health care or education," she said.

Hewitt's skill area is in water sanitation, but he said he's not sure what projects he'll be doing when he goes.

"Even though they give you a skill area and a general idea of what you're doing, you don't really know exactly what you are going to do until you get there," Hewitt said.

More than 182,000 people have volunteered in the Peace Corps since it was founded in 1961.

About 96 percent of the corps' current volunteers, who work in 71 countries and five continents, have undergraduate degrees.

MSU volunteers typically come from the fields of English, business, agriculture and health, and they are placed in locations all over the world, Robinson said.

The type of demand for volunteers changes every year, depending on international needs, but generally all MSU applicants are placed in the corps, she said.

"We're always working on a huge load of applicants," Robinson said.

"We never turn anyone away, because everyone brings something unique."

She added that one of the strongest recruitment techniques doesn't come from her office — most of the volunteers have heard about the corps from past volunteers who share their experiences.

"Students that come to us have heard that message," she said.

Volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age, and they could contribute in areas such as youth outreach and community development, information technology, education and the environment during their 27 months with the Peace Corps.

"MSU being a land-grant university means that there's this sense of civic responsibility that graduates and students have," said Jay Rodman, MSU's Peace Corps program director.

"And given the importance that the (MSU) president, the provost and our campus community put on international involvement, success in Peace Corps recruitment is just another example of how we walk the walk."