The University of North Georgia, in cooperation with the Peace Corps, has established a Peace Corps Preparatory Program (PCPP) that is open to all students which will help you acquire the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to serve in the Peace Corps.
While completing the requirements of the program does not guarantee admission into the Peace Corps, it does prepare students for service in the organization.
Somewhere in the world is a place where you can make a difference in someone else's life. Use your knowledge and expertise to help make lives better and share
in the lives of people in a world apart from your own.
How? Serve in the U.S. Peace Corps.
You are encouraged to apply during your sophomore year as there may be prerequisite courses that need to be completed prior to taking the required courses. An early application will help you to better prepare for completing the requirements successfully.
You can plan accordingly using the information below to help fill out your application form and fulfill the requirements of the Peace Corps Preparatory Program. Contact the program coordinator if you have any questions or need assistance.
The program prepares you for international development fieldwork and potential Peace Corps service by helping you build four core competencies through coursework, hands-on experience, and professional development support.
These four competencies are the following:
Leveraging concrete knowledge and skills is central to on-the-ground international development work. Through the PCPP you will begin to build a professional specialty, which should serve your career well whether or not you become a Peace Corps Volunteer.
The Peace Corps Volunteers serve within six sectors. PCPP requires at least three courses that align within a sector. The courses can but do not need to come from your academic major or minor. You also must accumulate a minimum of 50 hours of volunteer or work experience in that same sector, preferably in a teaching or outreach capacity.
See the suggested courses for each sector below.
Teach lessons that last a lifetime. Education is the Peace Corp’s largest program area. Volunteers play an important role in creating links among schools, parents, and communities by working in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools as math, science, conversational English, and resource teachers or early grade reading and literacy teacher trainers. Volunteers also develop libraries and technology resource centers.
Take three courses from one of these areas. The links go to the listing in the academic catalog or program page.
Corequisites: ECSP 3540, ECSP 4404, and ECSP 4405
Hours:
2
Corequisites: ECSP 3540, ECSP 4403, and ECSP 4405
Hours:
2
Corequisites: ECSP 3540, ECSP 4403, and ECSP 4404
Hours:
2
Serve on the front lines of global health. Health Volunteers work within their communities to promote important topics such as nutrition, maternal and child health, basic hygiene, and water sanitation. Volunteers also work in HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs to train youth as peer educators, develop appropriate education strategies, provide support to orphans, and create programs that provide emotional and financial support to families and communities affected by the disease.
Help forge a global movement to protect our planet. Volunteers lead grassroots efforts in their communities to protect the environment and strengthen understanding of environmental issues. They teach environmental awareness in elementary and secondary schools and to youth groups and community organizations, empowering communities to make their own decisions about how to protect and conserve the local environment. Volunteers also address environmental degradation by promoting sustainable use of natural resources.
Lead grassroots efforts to fight hunger in a changing world. Agricultural Volunteers work with small-scale farmers and families to increase food security and production and adapt to climate change while promoting environmental conservation practices. They introduce farmers to techniques that prevent soil erosion, reduce the use of harmful pesticides, and replenish the soil. They work alongside farmers on integrated projects that often combine vegetable gardening, livestock management, agroforestry, and nutrition education.
Recommended Health Sector Course
Empower the next generation of change makers. Volunteers work with youth in communities on projects that promote engagement and active citizenship, including gender awareness, employability, health and HIV/AIDS education, environmental awareness, sporting programs, and info technology.
Harness 21st-century tools to help communities lift themselves. Volunteers work with development banks, non governmental organizations, and municipalities to strengthen infrastructure and encourage economic opportunities in communities. They frequently teach in classroom settings and work with entrepreneurs and business owners to develop and market their products. Some Volunteers also teach basic computer skills and help communities take advantage of technologies such as e-commerce, distance learning, and more.
The following restrictions apply: A student who is currently employed may not seek internship credit with the same employer. A student cannot receive retroactive academic credit for a past internship experience. Prerequisites are enforced for the internship course and cannot be taken simultaneously with the internship course unless expressly stated as a corequisite.
Proposed internship experiences and internship responsibilities must be approved in advance by your Department Head. The credit worthiness of an internship will be judged by whether the duties, activities and skills/knowledge required for the internship closely approach those of a practicing business professional. The approval process takes time. Students must apply for academic credit well in advance of registration deadlines. The process requires the student to submit a typed internship description from the employer detailing substantial responsibilities. Finally, the internship must result in a minimum of 120 verifiable work hours.
Internship courses will be graded according to the following grading system: satisfactory/unsatisfactory.
Prerequisite/Corequisite:
Prerequisite: CSCI 3300
Hours:
3
In this course students develop a viable business plan to launch a new business. The course is a critical component for students who desire to start their own businesses and culminates with student teams pitching their business plan before a panel of judges selected from financial professionals, successful entrepreneurs and other business professionals. The class is very hands-on, providing the opportunity to apply learned topics. This course is exempt from the MCCB Admission to Upper Division restriction.
Prerequisite/Corequisite:
Prerequisite: ENTR 3020 with a grade of C or higher
Hours:
3
View Course in Catalog
The following restrictions apply: A student who is currently employed may not seek internship credit with the same employer. A student cannot receive retroactive academic credit for a past internship experience. Prerequisites are enforced for the internship course and cannot be taken simultaneously with the internship course unless expressly stated as a co-requisite.
Proposed internship experiences and internship responsibilities must be approved in advance by your Department Head. The credit worthiness of an internship will be judged by whether the duties, activities and skills/knowledge required for the internship closely approach those of a practicing business professional. The approval process takes time. Students must apply for academic credit well in advance of registration deadlines. The process requires the student to submit a typed internship description from the employer detailing substantial responsibilities. Finally, the internship must result in a minimum of 120 verifiable work hours.
Internship courses will be graded according to the following grading system: satisfactory/unsatisfactory.
Prerequisite/Corequisite:
Prerequisites:
Working across cultures often entails verbal and nonverbal languages distinct from your own. Building foreign language skills is thus a second key component of the PCPP curriculum.
PCPP minimum language course requirements align with those needed by applicants to the Peace Corps itself, which vary by linguistic region.
The Peace Corps has no explicit language requirements for individuals applying to serve in most other countries. However, you will still likely learn and utilize another language during service, so it is only helpful to have taken at least one foreign language class.
If you are a strong native speaker and hope to serve in a country that speaks your same language, you can skip this requirement.
Engaging thoughtfully and fluidly across cultures begins with one’s own self-awareness. With this learning objective, you will deepen your cultural agility through a mix of three introspective courses in which you learn about others while reflecting upon your own self in relation to others. The goal is for you to build your capacity to shift perspective and behavior around relevant cultural differences.
You must take at least one of these courses.
You can choose two more from the Core Courses above or two other courses from the electives list to complete your intercultural competence requirement.
Contact the PCPP coordinator, Dr. Leander Kellogg, if you would like to discuss selecting another course in the catalog that may be suitable.
Peace Corps service and similar international development work opportunities are highly professional and selective. PCPP requires three specific activities that will strengthen your candidacy for the Peace Corps (or any other professional endeavor):
Images courtesy of the Peace Corps Media Library