FOR RELEASE: April 3, 1998
Contact:
Blaine P. Friedlander, Jr.
Office: (607) 255-3290
Internet: [email protected]
Compuserve: Bill Steele, 72650,565
http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University and the U.S. Peace Corps will sign a Memorandum of Cooperation later this month to mark the establishment of a new option at Cornell -- a three-year master's of professional studies degree in agriculture with a Peace Corps service option.
Mark Gearan, director of the Peace Corps, will be on campus April 30 to sign the agreement with Cornell President Hunter Rawlings, Provost Don M. Randel, Walter I. Cohen, dean of the Graduate School, and Daryl Lund, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
After the ceremony and luncheon, Gearan will present a public lecture titled "Vision for Peace Corps in the Year 2000 and Beyond: Opportunities for U.S. Students in International Learning and Service" at 2:15 p.m. in 135 Emerson Hall. Gearan also will conduct an informational meeting for undergraduate students at 1:15 p.m. in 135 Emerson Hall.
The MPS/agriculture degree program at Cornell with the new Peace Corps option will emphasize the conservation of natural resources, sustainable farming systems and international development. The study could encompass a broad range of interdisciplinary subjects or could focus on specific topics.
The degree will require the satisfactory completion of 30 credit hours related to the candidate's specialization. Candidates who qualify for the Peace Corps option will take 24 of the credit hours at Cornell. After two semesters of academic work on campus, the candidate will enter the Peace Corps for a 27-month assignment, where the student will receive six credits toward their degree once a project paper is complete.
"The MPS has been offered for many years. It's the Peace Corps option that is new," said James Haldeman, director of the International Agriculture Program at Cornell. "There are many young, recently graduated students who would like to do something overseas but feel they need a little more academic training. They want more preparation time for a field experience with the Peace Corps," he said.
There are more than 20 universities offering the option with programs in agriculture, business, civil and environmental engineering, forestry, public policy/NGO development, public health, teaching and urban planning. Cornell joins three other universities in the agriculture master's program with the Peace Corps option. They are: Colorado State, Purdue and Washington State universities. The new Cornell program will be coordinated through the International Agriculture Program office, which is part of the College Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Cornell ranks 11th among colleges and universities in the United States for producing Peace Corps volunteers, having sent 1,207 of its graduates into the program since 1961. And Cornell is one of only two Ivy League institutions in the top 25. Harvard University, with 1,966 volunteers, ranks fourth.
In January, President Clinton pledged to ask Congress for $270 million to aid the Peace Corps' 1999 budget, an increase of 21 percent, which would allow the number of volunteers from across the country to rise from approximately 6,000 to 10,000 by the year 2000.
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Mark Gearan, director of the Peace Corps, will be on campus April 30 to sign the agreement with Cornell.
EDITORS: You are welcome to cover the signing ceremony. The ceremony will take place in the Board Room, on the third floor of Day Hall, at 11:30 a.m., on April 30.
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