Sept. 18 signing ceremony inaugurates VWC's Peace Corps Prep Program
By Stephanie Smaglo | September 29, 2014
A Memorandum of Cooperation between Virginia Wesleyan College and the U.S. Peace Corps was signed Sept. 18 to mark the inauguration of the College’s Peace Corps Prep Program (PCPP). VWC is the only college or university in the greater Hampton Roads region and one of only 25 institutions nationwide to offer its students the opportunity to study and achieve internationally recognized certification in an official Peace Corps Prep Program.
Representatives from Peace Corps Mid-Atlantic Region Jessica Koehler (Recruitment Supervisor) and Chuck Cascio (Hampton Roads Regional Recruiter) signed the agreement alongside Tim O’Rourke, VWC’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Kenneth R. Perry Dean of the College.
“The Peace Corps and the College were born in the same year and we embrace a common set of values,” says O’Rourke. “Now we are joined formally in this partnership that pays tribute to our history and our principles and, for our graduates, will illuminate the path to the service of the Peace Corps.”
VWC’s PCPP is designed to create highly qualified VWC students who wish to share their education, talents and skills with disadvantaged peoples in the developing world. It helps prepare students for service as Peace Corps volunteers or for professional careers in service organizations and other international agencies. The program was implemented by VWC professors and PCPP co-coordinators Clay Drees and Kathy Stolley in addition to PCPP committee members Bill Gibson (political science professor and former Peace Corps volunteer), LaShay Wyatt (Career Services), Diane Hotaling (Community Service) and Lena Johnson (International and Intercultural Programs).
Clay Drees, a professor of history at VWC, is the president and founder of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Hampton Roads, a regional education and outreach group dedicated to one of the primary goals of the Peace Corps—“bringing the world back home.” He served as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1977-1979 in the small West African nation of Sierra Leone.
“This is a dream come true for me in many ways,” Drees says. “When I first came to the College in 1992, I met with President Greer and we talked about doing something like this, perhaps bringing a program to the College that would better prepare students for Peace Corps service. The Peace Corps didn’t have a formal prep program in place at the time for undergraduates, so to have this happen for me right now is a 20-year dream come true.”
The PCPP exists as part of the Innovative Teaching and Engaged Learning curriculum at Virginia Wesleyan. It requires selected coursework in disciplines such as international studies, foreign language, education, biology, environmental studies, political science, history and other academic fields, along with a number of community service hours and/or study abroad experience. Students who successfully complete the PCPP at VWC will receive a Certificate of Completion signed by the Peace Corps national director at the time of their graduation. The program does not guarantee the opportunity to serve in the Peace Corps, but it does make VWC graduates more competitive as applicants.
For more information, visit the Peace Corps Prep Program webpage or contact PCPP coordinators Clay Drees (757.455.3402, cdrees@vwu.edu) or Kathy Stolley (757.233.8768, kstolley@vwu.edu).