skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

UW-Madison is Second-Largest Producer of Peace Corps Volunteers

play audio
Play

Wednesday, February 24, 2016   

MADISON, Wis. - Throughout the history of the Peace Corps, started in 1961 by President Kennedy, UW-Madison has been one of the nation's leading sources of volunteers.

For a second consecutive year, it's the number-two school, and it has held the number-one spot six times since 2001.

Heather Mangan, public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps, says it has to do with the UW's emphasis on service, and on making a global impact.

"We also just seem to see a lot of people at UW-Madison who are passionate about helping other people and taking the things that they've learned in Madison and using them in other parts of the world," says Mangan.

Right now there are 68 UW-Madison alumni currently in the field as Peace Corps volunteers.

Sixteen graduates of UW-Stevens Point and 14 from UW-La Crosse are also in the field. Since the Peace Corps was founded in 1961, more than 6,000 Wisconsin residents have served in the Corps.

Even though the Peace Corps dates back to the Kennedy administration, Mangan says the concept of volunteering still resonates among today's students.

"The idea to give back and to take the things that we've been so privileged to have in the U.S. and use those to help other people - that hasn't gone anywhere," she says. "That's still how young people feel, and we have seen record numbers in applications because of it."

Applications for the Peace Corps hit a 40-year high in 2015.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021