The USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development signed a formal agreement to participate in Fellows/USA, the Peace Corps’ graduate fellowship program.

USC, the third university in California to join the program, is the first statewide to offer degrees through Fellows/USA in public administration, public policy, planning, health administration and real estate development.

Under the fellowship agreement, the school will offer former Peace Corps volunteers financial assistance toward graduate studies. In turn, Peace Corps fellows make a commitment to work in an underserved local community while pursuing their degree. Their service may involve teaching in public schools, working in public health care facilities or contributing to neighborhood development projects at a nonprofit.

“We are delighted to partner with USC’s School of Policy, Planning, and Development,” said Peace Corps director Ron Tschetter. “Former volunteers participating in the program through USC will bring their rich and diverse international experiences not only into the classroom but also to the work they will carry out in their local community as part of this unique program.”

In addition, this institutional partnership strongly promotes the school’s mission of improving the quality of life for people and their communities, said Dean Jack H. Knott.

“Our school is committed to educating the future generation of leaders, and global experience and understanding are more important now than ever before,” Knott said. “The Fellows/USA program is a remarkable opportunity to bring additional global knowledge to SPPD’s international programs and projects.”

Today, California produces more Peace Corps volunteers than any other state. More than 900 California residents currently serve abroad, 39 of whom are USC alumni.

According to Kate Kuykendall, public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps, the school’s involvement in the Fellows/USA program provides a valuable opportunity for many volunteers to return to their home state and earn a graduate education.

“Volunteers return from service and want to gain the educational background to go along with their field experience,” she said. “They’re looking to further develop their leadership abilities.”

Carol Rush, SPPD associate dean for student affairs, added that Peace Corps fellows will help to enrich the learning environment for other students.

“SPPD addresses today’s most pressing public issues such as health care, housing, immigration, infrastructure, transportation and sustainability,” Rush said. “Peace Corps volunteers will bring real-world, hands-on experience to bear on these social challenges. They can take abstract issues in the classroom and apply concrete examples of work done in the communities they served.”

Assistant professor David Suarez agreed, saying that his Peace Corps experience made a “tremendous impact” on his life. Suarez volunteered in the Peace Corps from 1998 to 2000, serving as a teacher trainer and community organizer in the Dominican Republic.

“The Peace Corps broadened my interests and exposed me to different ways of thinking,” he said. “It helped me to realize how little I knew and understood about the world.

“The experience drove me to pursue a Ph.D. And while I was studying, it wasn’t just theory – I had practice to draw from. It even helped define my dissertation topic on the emergence and development of human rights programs.”