FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, July 1, 1999

Students from Texas Southern to Spend Summer Overseas with Peace Corps Volunteers

Washington, D.C., July 1, 1999—The Peace Corps and the Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger and Peace at Texas Southern University (TSU) are partnering again this summer to send 10 students to live with current Peace Corps volunteers in Haiti, Ghana, Panama, Ivory Coast, and Bolivia. The program, which was started last year, aims to increase minority student interest in global service careers.
To celebrate the departure of these students, the Peace Corps and TSU will host a "send-off" in Houston on Friday, July 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Houston Area Urban League.
The event will feature a keynote address by Ambassador Charles Baquet III, who presently serves as Deputy Director of the Peace Corps. Other confirmed speakers include Dr. Charlene Evans, Executive Vice President of Texas Southern University, and William J. Taylor III, Director of the Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger and Peace.
"The Peace Corps is committed to increasing the opportunities of service and international careers to minority audiences," said Anthony Pinder, director of the Peace Corps\' minority and national recruitment initiatives. "We want more people of color to learn about how serving as Peace Corps volunteers can help launch careers in education, business, health or international development."
The Peace Corps history with Texas Southern University dates back to the early 1970s, when the Teacher Corps/Peace Corps Program was established. Later this month, the Peace Corps will establish a Fellows/USA program at TSU, in which returned Peace Corps volunteers can obtain reduced tuition and a stipend while they work on a master\'s degrees in business administration, city planning, public adminstration, industrial technology, or transportation. In return, the volunteers will agree to work in an under-served area in Houston.
Peace Corps\' current collaboration with the University promises to provide valuable career experience of international service. The six-week internship experience provides students with the opportunity to enhance their leadership and service skills while they expand their world view.
Currently, nearly 6,700 Peace Corps volunteers are working in 77 countries around the world to bring clean water to communities, teach children, protect the environment, help start new small businesses, and prevent the spread of AIDS. Since 1961, more than 150,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps.

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