UM News Service
MISSOULA – The 猎奇重口 recently was distinguished as one of the Peace Corps' 2025 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges among medium-sized colleges – a ranking that reinforces UM’s foundational ethos of public service.
The University has been honored as the top college in the country for community and national service for three years in a row, thanks in part to its close connection with the Peace Corps, among other factors. UM also has ranked as a Carnegie classified institution for Community Engagement since 2008.
“This isn't the first time we've gotten this kind of a recognition from the Peace Corps, as well as other organizations,” said Karey Sabol, UM associate director for Experiential Learning – and a Peace Corps alumna herself. “It shows this through line of service throughout UM's history, and I think that’s a really powerful draw.”
Listed as No. 22 in the medium college group, six Grizzlies are serving in five countries around the world, including Albania and Montenegro, Eswatini, Kyrgyzstan, Senegal, and Sri Lanka, according to a Peace Corps’ news release. More than 830 UM alumni have served since the Peace Corps’ founding in 1961. The University also supports returned Peace Corps volunteers pursuing graduate school through the financial support of the Coverdell Fellows program.
UM’s ethos of public service is reflected across campus, starting with students’ first days as Grizzlies participating in the Big Sky Experience and continuing through graduation, with many students receiving degrees in service-oriented fields. It’s also deeply embedded in UM’s guiding values, with “Partner with Place” included among the University’s Priorities for Action.
“That is a very strong message telling people that we care about this place deeply,” said Andrea Vernon, UM executive director of Experiential Learning and Career Success. “As a result, we're an institution that partners in many collaborative ways with local, regional and state organizations. It’s an important distinguishing factor that sets us apart.”
Much of Vernon and her colleagues’ work revolves around fostering campus-community partnerships that amplify the role of higher education in resolving needs from local to global scales, while providing hands-on learning experiences for students.
From selecting service learning-oriented courses to volunteering their time doing public service over spring break and more, UM offers students a broad menu of opportunities to give back on local, regional and global levels.
“I think we have students who come to the University who are very community-minded and public service-oriented,” Vernon said. “It's nice to be able to capitalize on that value system that they already have and say, ‘Wonderful, we have lots of ways to help you prepare for careers in these fields.’”
Grizzlies interested in joining the Peace Corps can access support as early as their first year on campus to prepare to apply and stand out as a competitive candidate.
UM’s Peace Corps Prep Program, a certificate developed in partnership with the Peace Corps, trains students to become effective volunteers and equips them for international service. Students can focus their certificate classes on different Peace Corps services areas, including the environment, health, youth in development, community development, agriculture or education.
“Students do an experiential learning component that gets them working with people and doing the kinds of projects they would be doing in the Peace Corps,” Sabol said. “So it’s a great experience where they’re already doing on-the-ground work.”
Regardless of whether they join the Peace Corps, students gain valuable public service experience and transferable skills from the prep program that sets them apart post-graduation.
Sabol, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan from 1998 to 2000, describes her time there as a transformative experience both professionally and personally.
“Throughout my career I have been told that the reason I landed the job is that I had that Peace Corps experience, which showed that I could be really adaptable to a variety of situations and that I could communicate well with a variety of people across cultures,” she said. “I feel like it really set me up for success.”
Beyond gaining valuable career skills through her work educating seventh through ninth grade girls, she became part of a unique community, immersed herself in learning about a new culture and forged lifelong connections.
“It helped me articulate what I wanted, what I was interested in doing and what my values are,” Sabol said. “It shaped my whole life. I ended up later doing a master's in Middle Eastern studies because I was so interested in the culture.”
Sabol encourages any UM student curious about forging a similar path to contact the University’s dedicated Peace Corps recruiter, who is available throughout the school year to meet with interested students, answer questions and connect them with opportunities that grow their passions into purpose. Contact UM’s recruiter by emailing peacecorps@mso.umt.edu.
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Contact: Dave Kuntz, UM director of strategic communications, 406-243-5659, dave.kuntz@umontana.edu.