State House Honors Western for Peace Corps Achievement

The Washington State House of Representative passed a resolutionthat recognizes Western Washington University for being No. 1 on the Peace Corps 2013 Top Colleges rankings among medium schools, with 73 Western undergraduate alumni currently serving.

This is the first time WWU has been ranked No. 1 on the Peace Corps list, although it often has been ranked near the top.

The House resolution also honors the University of Washington and Gonzaga University for also ranking No. 1 among large and small-sized schools, respectively.

The resolution in the House was sponsored by Reps. Larry Seaquist, Gael Tarleton, Cindy Ryu, Linda Kochmar, David Sawyer, Larry Haler, Gerry Pollet, Norm Johnson, Chad Magendanz, Maureen Walsh, Susan Fagan, Mark Hargrove, Sherry Appleton, and Steve Bergquist.

“I would like to thank the representatives who sponsored this resolution. They clearly understand that Western alumni serving in the Peace Corps are changing lives, making our world a better place,” said Sherry Burkey, associate vice president for University Relations and director of Government Relations at Western.

On Feb. 5, Peace Corps Acting Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet visited Western for an event that celebrated Western’s highly successful participation in the Peace Corps.

Historically, 885 WWU alumni have served as Peace Corps volunteers since the agency was founded in 1961.

The Peace Corps ranks Top Colleges annually according to the size of the student body. Small schools have less than 5,000 undergraduates, medium-sized schools have between 5,000 and 15,000 undergraduates and large schools have more than 15,000 undergraduates. Rankings are calculated based on fiscal year 2012 data as of September 30, 2012 as self-reported by Peace Corps volunteers.