New Peace Corps Coverdell Fellows program launched with Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs

May 1, 2017 — The University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs is partnering with the Peace Corps to establish a new Paul D. Coverdell Fellows program for returned volunteers pursuing the Keough School’s new Master of Global Affairs degree.

Peace Corps volunteers selected as Coverdell Fellows will receive a full-tuition scholarship, health insurance and a living stipend each year of the two-year MGA program.

The Keough School joins the Mendoza College of Business and the Eck Institute for Global Health as Coverdell Fellows partner programs at Notre Dame.

Coverdell Fellows complete internships in underserved American communities, bringing home and expanding skills they learned as Peace Corps volunteers — as well as applying their classroom learning in a professional setting. They gain valuable, hands-on experience that makes them more competitive in the job market while furthering the Peace Corps mission, especially its commitment to strengthening Americans’ understanding of the world and its people.

The University of Notre Dame and the Peace Corps have a strong and historic relationship. In the 1960s, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., then University president, played an integral role in the development of the Peace Corps, providing advice and support to President John F. Kennedy and Sargent Shriver, the first Peace Corps director. Since then, the University has become one of the country’s top Peace Corps volunteer-producing schools, with 886 Peace Corps volunteers from Notre Dame since 1961 and 12 serving today.

Contact: Becca Méndez, associate director, Master of Global Affairs, 574-631-9073, rwilli35.@nd.edu