UA News

Events during Peace Corps Week highlight the service of volunteers to communities around the world.

Join the more than 125 University of Arizona Peace Corps Fellows and returned Peace Corps volunteers from southern Arizona as they describe the world they saw, the experiences they gained and the service they provided to communities in 75 countries.

The annual Peace Corps Week celebration, Feb. 25 through March 3, will showcase how volunteers "bring the world back home" and now serve in the Tucson community.

“These students bring back stories of breakthroughs that help communities survive by creating sustainable, income-generating activities for women, establishing micro-credit businesses in poverty-ridden, isolated communities or providing education on health and nutrition,” said Georgia Ehlers, director of fellowships and community engagement in the UA Graduate College.

“What is amazing is that they then return to provide community service here in Tucson and the surrounding communities as well,” Ehlers said.

The volunteers will share their insights on cultures from around the world, celebrate the Peace Corps’ service and accomplishments and promote local community service work.

Philip Stevens, a language, reading and culture doctoral student in the College of Education, served in Paraguay. Stevens, who also won the UA 2007 Centennial Achievement Award, currently teaches math at the Tohono O’odham Nation’s Ha:san Charter School. He plans to use these experiences to open a school on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, where he grew up.

“I have seen firsthand how the Ha:san Charter School combines native knowledge with basic education requirements, and through my UA education I want to bring that ability to the children of the San Carlos Apache Tribe,” Stevens said.

Mary Hollingsworth, a third-year student in the James E. Rogers College of Law, served in the Eastern European nation of Moldova. Ranked first in her class, Hollingsworth dedicates her life to promoting the rights of indigenous people in Africa and around the world, working with the International Labor Organization (a United Nations agency in South Africa), Human Rights USA and the Indigenous People’s Law Clinic at the UA.

Events at this year’s celebration include:

• School Outreach (Feb. 25 and 26): Returned volunteers will visit Tucson-area classrooms to talk about their experiences and share their perspectives on the world.
• Mayoral Proclamation of Peace Corps Week (Feb. 26, 5:30 p.m., City Hall): Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup will declare Feb. 25-Mar. 3 Peace Corps Week in Tucson. Gov. Janet Napolitano also will proclaim that week as Peace Corps Week in Arizona.
• Peace Corps Fair. (Feb. 27, 4-7 p.m.) Student Union Memorial Center Ballroom: This event features exhibits from more than 75 countries while volunteers talk about their experiences. The event features music and food from around the world, and is free and open to the public.
• Community Service Project (March 1, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.): Returned volunteers will take part in the UA's “Cats in the Community Day,” helping the Primavera Foundation to make over an entire city block.

The UA Peace Corps Fellows program is the second largest in the nation with 54 fellows. Fellows have provided 100,000 hours of community service, sharing their unique perspectives and skills with nonprofits in southern Arizona. More information about the fellows and Peace Corps Week is available online at http://www.grad.arizona.edu/peacecorp.