More Spartans are volunteering overseas.
The MSU Peace Corps is ranked seventh in the nation in terms of the number of volunteers serving abroad, a jump from last year's rating, which put MSU in 14th place.
The rankings, released from the Washington, D.C., Peace Corps office on Wednesday, separate every school in the United States into three categories: small, medium and large. The schools were ranked based on the number of school alumni in the corps during 2002. MSU is in the large school category and had 66 alumni in the Peace Corps, compared to 43 last year.
The top two positions in the large school category are the University of Wisconsin with 123 graduates and the University of Michigan with 95 graduates.
There are a number of factors for the ranking, including better publicity and an emphasis on service, said MSU Peace Corps recruiter Chris Foley.
"As students are finding jobs more scarce they look for something to do to become more competitive," he said. "The Peace Corps gives them that competitiveness."
Many students serve in the corps for a year or two between undergraduate and graduate programs, Foley said.
"They're not working in an office making photo copies for someone," he said. "They're dealing with high level people and out there doing a lot of things and can demonstrate their skills."
Peace Corps can be a great résumé builder, said Scot Roskelley, a spokesman in the organization's Chicago office.
"People will end up having more responsibility in 27 months than they ever would have in their first job out of college," he said.
Since 1961, more than 168,000 volunteers have served in the Peace Corps, working in the fields of education, health, information technology, business development, environment and agriculture. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens, at least 18 years of age and volunteer two years of their time.
About 86 percent of the volunteers have an undergraduate degree and 12 percent have graduate degrees or have studied at the graduate level.
MSU has 1,909 current and former volunteers who have served in 123 countries.
Among them is MSU President M. Peter McPherson, who served in Peru from 1964-65. McPherson said he's proud to see so many students overseas.
"My Peace Corps experience unquestionably was a foundation for much of my career thereafter," he said. "Previously, my interests in studies had more of a domestic orientation, but when I went to the Peace Corps it was very much a growing experience.
"Every job I have had ever since has a had a substantial international component."
For more information, visit www.isp.msu.edu/peacecorps.
