In a press release on Feb. 13, the Peace Corps, a volunteer program run by the U.S. Government, released its “Top Colleges of 2015” rankings, and DU ranked number one in the graduate school category.
Peace Corps determines its rankings by dividing schools into categories and looking at the schools with the most volunteers.

“Peace Corps does this ranking every school year,” said Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet. “We rank the top volunteer-producing colleges and universities nationwide according to the size of the student body. We have small schools (<5k), medium schools (5-15k), large schools (>15k) and a graduate school category.”

Peace Corps strives to keep these rankings as accurate as possible.

“We cross reference the enrollment against two other additional sources (Princeton Review and College Board),” noted Hessler-Radelet. “We want the denominators to be the same.”

This isn’t the first year the Korbel Graduate School has achieved such a high ranking.

“The University of Denver is our number one volunteer producing graduate school this year, and has been for the past two years,” said Hessler-Radelet. “DU has also ranked in the top five volunteer-producing graduate schools for the past four years.”

DU’s history with the Peace Corps extends beyond the past five years, as well.

“Since 1961, more than 600 DU alumni have served in the Peace Corps,” said Hessler-Radelet. “Chris Hill, the Dean of the Korbel School is a return Peace Corps volunteer.”

DU has two main Peace Corps Programs for students, the first of which is the Master’s International Program.

“We have some great programs at DU,” said Hessler-Radelet. “The Master’s International Program is a program where people can apply to graduate school and then apply to Peace Corps and get some academic credits for serving in the Peace Corps. DU ranks number four in the Master’s International Program.”

DU’s other Peace Corps Program is the Fellows Program.

“The Fellows Program is for return Peace Corps volunteers,” said Hessler-Radelet. “The DU Fellows Program has ranked number one within the past three years. Currently, DU has 69 students enrolled in the Fellows Program.”

The Korbel Peace Corps Programs have been a part of DU since 1999.

The Peace Corps recently revised its volunteer application process, which has resulted in a significant increase in applicants, but Hessler-Radelet says schools with a very strong Peace Corps community perform particularly well in terms of the return Peace Corps volunteer rate.

“Programs that have global awareness or focus on international studies recognize the values Peace Corps volunteers bring to the global marketplace,” said Hessler-Radelet.