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Volunteer teams tidy up the desert
The morning sun reflected off Benjamin McDonald's sunglasses as he dragged a plastic bag along the side of a remote highway in the desert. A business graduate student and Peace Corps Fellow, McDonald spent his Saturday morning in the Sonoran desert picking up trash.
McDonald was one of 37 returned Peace Corps volunteers who joined about 200 volunteers from other groups Saturday morning to clean up trash left by undocumented migrants crossing the desert into Southern Arizona from Mexico.
"I wanted to expose myself during my time at the University of Arizona to the issues that affect the local community, and border issues are a significant part of that," McDonald said.
The Arizona Daily Wildcat, pg. 1, [03/06/07] by Claire Conrad
Photograph by Alan Fullmer
Peace Corps service can provide perspective and change the world
I just got back from the capital, and Tous Passe, my puppy, is looking skinny. It worries me.My neighbor Boumoin feeds her toh, congealed millet porridge. Toh is the starchy base of the Burkinabe diet, and it doesn't seem right for a dog, but Boumoin says that if his own family doesn't eat meat on a daily basis, why should a dog? It's a good point--but why have dogs if you aren't going to take care of them properly, let them waste away and die? I thought about opening a can of tuna for my puppy but then decided that it was silly to feed a dog a 500-franc can of imported tuna when it costs less to treat malaria. But I did cut up a couple of jerky strips and smash them into some rice.
Boumoin got Tous Passe after he and his wife, Pauline, lost their baby girl during a difficult birth. The puppy's name means, "all will pass."
(Read more by clicking on headline.)
Tucson Weekly Guest Commentary by Rachel Hill [2/22/07]
A Small Victory in Darfur
Finally having a day off, a group of us went out to the airport to go jogging. It sounds odd, but leading to the airport is a straight, paved, three-mile stretch of road. Plus, it's outside of town, which means there's not much dust and no one to bother you.
On our way out there, I saw smoke in the distance, but didn't think much about it at the time. The following day, while visiting a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP's), I learned there had been a fire at Otash, another camp for IDPs.
Read more by clicking the headline above. Jeff is an alumnus of the Peace Corps Fellows program who graduated in Public Health in 2005.
Jeffrey T. Silverman, MPH
Fellows: News About Peace Corps Fellows Vol. 15, issue 1, 2007
UA alumni still heavily involved in community development programs
The UA has once again been listed as one of the top 25 producers of Peace Corps volunteers, coming in 24th in their annual report for 2006.
The Peace Corps, Teach for America and AmeriCorps are all community development programs that boast involvement from UA alumni.
Currently, there are 45 UA alumni serving as Peace Corps volunteers, with 1,199 total volunteering with the Peace Corps since it started in 1961. The figure ranks the UA as the No. 18 producer of Peace Corps volunteers of all time.
Steve Cole, the UA Peace Corps representative, said being ranked in the top 25 of Peace Corps producers is a "definite tribute" to the UA.
Andrea Lerch Arizona Daily Wildcat [1/19/07]
UA's Peace Corps Fellows program is the 2nd largest Fellows Program in the U.S. with 57 fellows.
U.S. Peace Corps [Dec. 21, 2006]
COMPASS Health gets $1.5M to stem teen drinking, drug use
Sheryl Kornman Tucson Citizen [Dec. 16, 2006]
Annie Wallace Appointed Executive Director of Rincon Institute
Graduating Fellow Annie Wallace has been appointed Executive Director of the Rincon Institute. She completed her Master's of Science in Environmental and Healthy City Planning at the University of Arizona in December 2006. Annie attended graduate school full-time and worked as an Environmental Planner/Fellow with SAGE Landscape Architecture and Environmental for her Peace Corps Fellow internship. Prior to working at SAGE she coordinated the social marketing Campaign "Protection Connection" for Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona's Education Department. Annie was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal. (Dec. 2006)
Engineers Without Borders
Peace Corps Fellows Amanda Plourde, Samantha Treese, Jared Buono, and John McElligott teamed up to support the UA Engineers Without Borders Chapter. They participated in the team, travelling to Ghana during winter break and summer to assess and repair a water filtration system. Plourde served as the first president of the EWB chapter. EWB was featured on KOLD Channel 13 5:00 news as part of their 13 Days of Christmas series. [Dec. 2006]
Peacock Receives Honorable Mention for President's Award in UA Student Showcase | |
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Lesotho RPCV Jeffrey Stanaway teaches life skills to at-risk teens
Jeff Stanaway
Lonni Nannini Photo: Benjie Sanders Arizona Daily Star [Nov. 17, 2006]
Bringing Service Home AmeriCorps Grant Awarded
The Governor's Commission on Service and Volunteerism has awarded $1,771,840 to Arizona's AmeriCorps programs for the 2006-2007 program year. A grant of $122,000 has been awarded to the Arizona Board of Regents/The University of Arizona for its program, "Bringing Service Home." Twenty AmeriCorps members will provide 900 hours of service at host sites, providing direct services to an underserved community. The program will draw members from the Peace Corps Fellows/USA program and will place members at diverse sites in Pima County. The program is one of nine funded programs in Arizona and one of only three new programs. The grant is renewable for two additional years. October 2006
Water Management Group
Water Management Group assists local residents and communities in the management of their water and land resources both in the U.S. and internationally. WMG was recently awarded a grant from the US Bureau of Reclamation to support a Urban Water Conservation Program in Tucson and South Tucson. WMG is featured in Sky Islands 'Restoring Connections' Newsletter (p.16)
Peace Corps Fellow and founding member of WMG, Jared Buono, measures a headcut while helping a rural landowner solve an erosion problem. Watershed Management Group Newsletter Winter 2006
Susie Qashu Environmental Leadership Fellow 2006-07
Susie Qashu is a doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona, where she studies human impacts in arid and semi-arid lands and coastal zones and the affects of these impacts on their environment. Currently she is investigating human behavior in marine protected areas in arid coastal zones. She is a TINKER Foundation summer research grant recipient and a US Peace Corps Fellow at the University of Arizona. Previously she worked as a National Park Service ranger, was an active participant in the National Park Service's Intake Trainee Management and International Affairs Programs, and worked with Chilean artisanal fishers.
The ELP Fellowship is an innovative national program designed to build the leadership capacity of the environmental field's most promising emerging practitioners from the U.S., U.S. territories, and Freely Associated States. The two-year fellowship offers unique networking opportunities, intensive leadership and skills training, project seed money, support, and time for personal and professional reflection. The ELP Fellowship provides an opportunity for talented individuals to have a unique and substantial impact on the environmental movement through collaboration with other emerging leaders.
Children on the path to literacy
Ashleigh Smith and Amy Myers know firsthand that volunteers are making a world of difference right here in Tucson. The Peace Corps Fellows, who collectively spent almost six years volunteering in Central and South America, are now involved in a work-study program in One on One Reading at the House of Neighborly Service.
Ashleigh Smith Loni Nannini Photo: Mamta Popat Arizona Daily Star [09.10.2006]
The University of Arizona to Celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the Peace Corps
Peace Corps celebrates its 45th anniversary with returning volunteers and events on UA campus Friday, March 3. UA News Services [Feb 27, 2006]
UA the No. 24 National Producer of Peace Corps Volunteers for 2006
More than 40 UA alumni are currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers throughout the world. UA News Services [Feb 13, 2006]
"AIDS 2006: Forecasts and Future Leaders in the Fight"
UA Peace Corps Fellow John McElligott was a conference organizer and Carrie Abdella was a student speaker. MEZCOPH [Feb. 2006]
College's Returned Peace Corps Fellows Featured in Arizona Daily Star
A page one story in the Arizona Daily Star, Nov. 21, prominently featured returned Peace Corps fellows who are attending The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health this semester.
More than one-third (14 out of 42) of the U.S. Peace Corps fellows at the UA are public health graduate students at the College.
“I think the reason for this is that people serving in the Peace Corps are attracted to public health’s major focus on community health, and one way to accomplish this is through community service,” explains John McElligott, one of the Peace Corps fellows and an MPH candidate in policy and management. “Returned Peace Corps volunteers are adept at integrating into diverse cultures and can build consensus for important issues related to health.”
To read the Arizona Daily Star story, click here. MEZCOPH ENews [Dec. 2005]
Public Health Conference Features Returning Peace Corps Volunteers, Nov. 18
More than a third of Peace Corps fellows at the UA are graduate students in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, UA News Services [Nov 14, 2005]
Engineering Graduate Student Wins Scholarship for her Public Service Work
 Amanda Plourde, a civil engineering master's student, is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, a Peace Corps Fellow, and president of UA's student chapter of Engineers Without Borders. UA News Services [Nov 02, 2005] Also featured in U.S Peace Corps Fellows Winter 2006 newsletter. |
| Article and photo by Ed Stiles |
Peace Corps Fellows Visit Classes for Peace Corps Week, Feb. 28 - March 6
Former volunteers will work with UA departments to tell their stories as part of the Peace Corps Commemoration of its 44th Anniversary. UA News Services [Feb 25, 2005]
$200K in federal aid sought to help pollution areas:Brownfields grant for City of South Tucson
Andrea Dalton, El Independiente, Nov. 2004, pg. 1, 4
Fellows Benefit Arizona Communities
The work of Fellows John Hays Jr., Debra Pinkney, Samantha Sabo, and Ryan Raleigh is featured. Fellows: news about Peace Corps Fellows Fall 2003, Vol. XI, No. 2, pp. 1-2, U.S. Peace Corps
The Toughest Job: On the Peace Corps' 42nd anniversary, Tucsonans reflect on the toughest job they ever loved
Dave Devine, Tucson Weekley, February 27, 2003
