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Peace Corps Prep Program

Are you interested in traveling abroad and sharing your skills and knowledge through volunteer service in international development? UNCW’s Peace Corps Prep Program can give you the boost you need to make the most of the many opportunities that await you.

The program is a cooperative endeavor between UNCW and the Peace Corps, an independent U.S. government agency that sends Americans abroad on two-year volunteer assignments. The goal of the program is to prepare you to apply to and serve overseas with the Peace Corps successfully.

Dr. Mike Turner Discusses his role as leader in the Peace Corps Prep Program

Develop New Skills

Enrolled students complete four primary objectives by developing skills in:

  1. A specific work sector, through both coursework and hands-on experience
  2. A foreign language, through coursework or an alternative learning process
  3. Intercultural competence, through coursework
  4. Leadership and professionalism through on-campus resources and extracurricular experiences

When you complete the program, you will receive a certificate from the Peace Corps and a signed completion document from the campus coordinator, which you may then include with an application to the Peace Corps. While completion of the program does not guarantee acceptance to the Peace Corps, it significantly increases your competitiveness. It has the added benefit of preparing you for other internationally oriented-work opportunities.

Apply Now

The Peace Corps’ Mission

To promote world peace and friendship by fulfilling three goals:
  1. To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
  2. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
  3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
Learn More About the Peace Corps’ Mission

Find & Share Your Passion

All Peace Corps volunteers are assigned to a "sector" that determines their primary work as a volunteer. When you enroll in the Peace Corps Prep Program, you will take courses and engage in extracurricular opportunities to develop specific skills that correspond with one of these six sectors.

Peace Corps volunteers working in the agriculture sector work with small-scale farmers and families to increase food security and production and adapt to climate change while promoting environmental conservation.

Learn more

Peace Corps volunteers who serve in the education sector play a role in the future of local communities by working with schools, communities, parents, and students to enhance the teaching of math, science, English, and literacy—or by training others to teach more effectively.

Learn more about being an education volunteer

Peace Corps volunteers who serve in the health sector work with clinics or develop education strategies to change the way host communities approach maternal, child, and adolescent health, nutrition, hygiene, water and sanitation or HIV/AIDS.

LEARN MORE

Peace Corps volunteers who serve in the youth in development sector engage youth by working on awareness projects such as HIV/AIDS education, gender issues, environmental awareness, sports programs and more.

LEARN MORE

Peace Corps volunteers who serve in the community economic development sector strengthen local economies by helping individuals pursue new economic opportunities and assisting local organizations in successfully implementing community development projects.

LEARN MORE

Peace Corps volunteers who serve in the environment sector leave their green fingerprint on the future by teaching environmental awareness and promoting sustainability in local communities.

LEARN MORE

Apply Now

Applying for the Peace Corps Prep Program is easy. Just follow these steps:

  1. Contact the Peace Corps Prep coordinator, Dr. Mike Turner, to express your interest in the program and ask any questions you might have.
  2. Browse the PCPP student guide to get an idea of how the program is structured. Consider how courses you have already taken or plan to take might fit into the program. If a course seems relevant but isn't listed, ask the coordinator.
  3. Using the student guide as a reference, complete the PCPP application with as much information as possible and send it to the coordinator.

Once your application is accepted, the coordinator will sign it and send it back to you. They will also keep you updated with news about events, relevant courses, and volunteer opportunities!

Before you graduate, you will work with the coordinator to complete the Exit Checklist, which confirms that you have completed the program's requirements and that you can submit with your application to the Peace Corps. You will also receive a certificate for your completion of the program directly from the Peace Corps.

Contact the Campus Coordinator

Dr. Mike Turner

Phone: (910) 942-2657

turnerml@uncw.edu

Department of World Languages & Cultures
Leutze Hall

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