Macalester is a Top Peace Corps Producing Institution in 2024

The Peace Corps’ 2024 ranking names Macalester eighth among the top ten small colleges and universities (fewer than 5,000 undergraduates enrolled) historically producing the most Peace Corps volunteers. The Peace Corps is an international volunteer network whose mission is to advance world peace and friendship, and to equip alumni with “adaptive leadership, intercultural competence, and problem-solving skills that are highly valued by employers” through service. 

“Today’s world requires problem solvers and people who understand that it is only through shared impact that we will change the trajectory of global issues,” says Carol Spahn, director of Peace Corps. “I am so grateful to these outstanding institutions for challenging and inspiring their students to not only be exceptional students but also to go on to be informed and intentional global citizens.”

Since 1961, when John F. Kennedy founded the Peace Corps, there have been a collective 240,000 volunteers that have served in 144 countries worldwide. 

Volunteers work in a six programmatic sectors–education, health, environment, agriculture, youth development, and community economic development. Their work within these sectors help them cultivate their skills and learn new ones while being involved with community-building across the globe. 

The Peace Corps ranks its top volunteer-producing colleges and universities annually according to the size of the student body; graduate schools are listed separately. View the complete 2024 rankings of the top ten undergraduate schools in each category here.

For more information, visit peacecorps.gov.