Washington, D.C., January 28, 2000—Peace Corps Director Mark L. Schneider today released the Peace Corps\' annual list of the small colleges and universities (those with less than 5,000 undergraduate students) that have the largest number of Peace Corps volunteers currently serving overseas.

For the second year in a row, American University in Washington, D.C. tops the 2000 list, with 40 graduates now serving as Peace Corps volunteers.

Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with 25 volunteers, is second, followed by Colorado College with 24 volunteers. The University of San Francisco and Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va. round out the top five.

"Together, these colleges and the Peace Corps share a strong relationship," Schneider said. "We hope to continue this spirit as we work to recruit a new generation of Peace Corps volunteers who will be leaders in the 21st century."

The Peace Corps will be recruiting 400 more volunteers this year than last as it works to expand the number of volunteers to 10,000 over the next few years. Currently, more than 7,000 volunteers are serving in 78 countries around the world, working to help fight hunger, bring clean water to communities, teach children, help start new small businesses, and stop the spread of AIDS.

The Peace Corps also released today the list of its top large universities that have produced current volunteers. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, with 117 graduates currently serving, tops the list, followed by the University of Colorado-Boulder with 91 volunteers, and the University of Michigan with 78. American University was tied for 25th place on the larger school list.

In the nearly 39 years that the Peace Corps has been sending volunteers overseas, almost all have been college graduates. Today, 97 percent of Peace Corps volunteers hold at least a bachelor\'s degree, while 13 percent have a graduate degree.