FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, October 2, 1998

Emory University Signs Joint Agreement with Peace Corps For New Master's Degree in International Public Health

Washington, D.C., October 2, 1998—The Peace Corps and Emory University in Atlanta will announce a new partnership next week, establishing a Master\'s International Program in Public Health at Emory, which will link academic study to overseas field work. James Curran, M.D., MPH, Dean of the Rollins Schools of Public Health, and Peace Corps Deputy Director Ambassador Charles Baquet III will sign a formal agreement. The signing ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday, October 8, in the Rita Anne Rollins Room in the Rollins School of Public Health, 1518 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta. The new program continues a collaboration that has seen more than 300 Emory University graduates serve in the Peace Corps since 1961. "The Master\'s International Program is a win-win-win for the university, for the students, and for the Peace Corps," said Baquet. Once established, the program will enable Master\'s of Public Health students at Emory to serve as Peace Corps volunteers after one year of course work. With two years of practical field experience gained as a health volunteer, students will return to Emory for one semester to complete the master\'s program. With the signing of the agreement, Emory becomes the first university in Georgia to establish a Master\'s International Program, and one of only four schools in the southeast. Twenty-two other distinguished universities have established a Master\'s International partnership with the Peace Corps. As the former Director of the Division of HIV/AIDS at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dean Curran also sees the new program as a collaborative effort that extends beyond Emory University and Peace Corps. More than 50 returned Peace Corps volunteers currently working at the CDC in Atlanta are expected to attend the signing ceremony. "The program is a unique opportunity for participants to gain insight into their area of study while improving the lives in communities in which they serve," Curran said. "And it offers tremendous potential for the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) and our Atlanta partners to work together through Peace Corps Volunteers to develop creative solutions to health problems around the world." Each year Peace Corps places more than 3,500 volunteers overseas in more than 80 countries. Currently there are more than 400 volunteers serving as health educators in 34 countries in Africa, Asia, Central Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Most work in maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and water/sanitation. At present, 23 Emory University graduates are serving as Peace Corps volunteers.

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