For the 13th consecutive year, UW-Madison was ranked as the university with the highest number of Peace Corps volunteers. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ranked second and the University of California-Berkley ranked third.
Currently UW-Madison has 96 graduates working overseas in the Peace Corps and 108 serving in Americorps. Mary Rouse, director of the Morgridge Center, a campus service organization, said the repeated high rankings were due to the strong social conscience UW-Madison promotes.
\There is a very long and rich tradition of public service at UW-Madison which goes back to its founding,"" Rouse said.
This social conscience appears at UW-Madison in many forms, she said. The Wisconsin Idea, a program instituted over a century ago, promotes programs that allow the university to give back to the community. This ""idea,"" Rouse said, instilled in the university a sense for public service which now extends far beyond the boundaries of the state.
UW-Madison graduate student Jon Simon, the campus representative of the Peace Corps, said he commended UW-Madison on both its student awareness and the support the university gives to public service programs like the Peace Corps.
""There is a tremendous amount of awareness at Madison for service work, and as we get a tremendous amount of support from the university, that strong relationship [gives us] a tremendous amount of exposure,"" Simon said.
UW-Madison senior Sean Arnold said he planned on joining the Peace Corps after graduation.
""I want to get an interesting experience after college, and not get a job right away,"" Arnold said.
The majority of the UW-Madison graduates involved in the Peace Corps and Americorps are recent graduates, which Rouse said is because before going into their career paths, they want a chance to give back to the community.
""There is such a feeling of public service that after they graduate and before they go into a career to make more money, students want to go and help, to make a difference,"" Rouse said.
