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MU's new Peace Corps Prep program set to train undergrads for global work

Courtney Kiley
/
KBIA

MU students interested in joining the Peace Corps after college now have a way to prepare during their undergraduate careers.

Chancellor Brady Deaton signed an agreement between the Peace Corps and MU establishing a Peace Corps Prep program on Wednesday.

“What it does is allows students to combine academic programs here on campus with the opportunities to serve globally and gain skills that would prepare them to be accepted into the Peace Corp,” said Jason Kinnear, an associate director in the office of service learning that will oversee the program once it begins in January.

MU Professor of Animal Science and returned Peace Corp volunteer Don Spires says the goal of the program is to help students realize the international opportunities the Peace Corp can provide and get more volunteers.

The new Peace Corp Prep programming coming to Mizzou is not only important to students looking to get involved in the global community but also to Chancellor Deaton who served as a Peace Corp volunteer in Thailand in 1962.

Deaton says signing this agreement between the Peace Corp and MU is a highlight of the fall for him.

“To see it come to this kind of step, of fruition and to institutionalize it, so to speak, with the University of Missouri and Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, and spread the Mizzou spirit around the world, it could not be anymore of a better feeling for me,” said Deaton.

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