SCU Again in Peace Corps Top 10; University Also in Top Five Jesuit Volunteer Corps List

Business Wire, March 7, 2002

News Editors/Education Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 7, 2002

The Peace Corps for the fourth straight year has ranked Santa Clara University in its Top 10 list of small (under 5,000 undergraduates) universities that produce overseas volunteers.

The 2002 ranking released by the federal agency places SCU in a tie for 10th place, with 13 Santa Clara alumni serving as Peace Corps volunteers.

Since the founding of the Peace Corps more than 40 years ago, nearly 300 Santa Clara alumni have served in 76 countries through the organization. This year, the 13 alumni serve in 10 countries, including Nepal, Honduras, and Tanzania.

"The Peace Corps and Santa Clara University have developed a significant relationship over the years," said Lloyd O. Pierson, Peace Corps chief of staff, wrote to SCU President Paul Locatelli S.J. "Thank you for the cooperation and support that you, faculty and administration members, and students have contributed to our efforts to recruit new volunteers on campus."

SCU alumni also have been an exemplary source of volunteers for the national Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

Mary Ashley, the executive director of JVC Southwest in San Francisco, said the number of volunteers from SCU is "astounding and amazing," ranking among the top five universities in the nation among schools that send volunteers to JVC. This year, 18 alumni are serving in JVC placements across the country.

Two other Jesuit universities, Gonzaga University and Seattle University, and one other California college, Pomona College, joined SCU in the Peace Corps top 10 in the small college/university rankings. In the Peace Corps list of universities with more than 5,000 students, one other Jesuit university, Georgetown University, was ranked in the top 25.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 7,400 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the third-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest higher education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.