The Peace Corps recently awarded The University of Texas at El Paso an additional tool to attract talented and knowledgeable graduate students who will help build a stronger public health studies program.
The University and the Peace Corps signed a Memorandum of Agreement that added UTEP to the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows program, which provides financial assistance to Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV) who want to pursue graduate studies. In return, the fellow agrees to participate in an internship related to his or her experience, interests and degree plan.
Donna Ekal, Ph.D., associate provost for undergraduate studies and director of the University’s Peace Corps programs, is excited about the program’s possibilities. As an RPCV who served in Thailand in the early 1980s, she knows that returned volunteers are adaptable, responsible and resourceful.
“They will bring their international experiences, interests and contacts to our University,” said Ekal, who added that UTEP is the only Texas institution with a Coverdell program.
The fellowship will be conducted through Ekal and UTEP’s Peace Corps office with the assistance of Carla Campbell, M.D., Master of Public Health program director, who will oversee the internship.
Campbell, a volunteer with nonprofit health care groups in Costa Rica in the early 1970s, said her program and the University will benefit from the Coverdell fellows.
“We’ll attract people who care about public health and human needs,” Campbell said. “They will come with good experience and be able to share it with their classmates.”
The Master of Public Health program will accept applications for the fall 2017 semester through April 15. Campbell expects the program to have one or two Coverdell fellows the first year and increase the number over time. Financial assistance will come from the department, a scholarship from the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and a housing discount from the Department of Residence Life.
The Peace Corps is a federal agency that recruits volunteers to serve in locations around the world to promote peace and mutual understanding through education. Volunteers are trained to help schools, governments and agencies in such fields as health, business, agriculture, the environment and information technology.
UTEP’s history with the Peace Corps dates back to the agency’s inception. The University, then Texas Western College, was one of the first two sites to train Peace Corps volunteers and the first to graduate a cohort in 1961.