Alumni | UW-Madison Division of International Studies

UW-Madison reaches 3,000 in total Peace Corps volunteers produced

January 25, 2012 Division of International Studies No comments

The University of Wisconsin-Madison this year ranks third among large universities nationwide in the number of alumni currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers, up from eighth last year. The 9,095 Peace Corps volunteers now working with local communities in 75 countries include 107 UW–Madison alumni—16 more than last year and just five below the top spot.

UW–Madison also marks a milestone this year, with a total of 3,000 alumni who have served in the Peace Corps since President John F. Kennedy created the agency in 1961. Only the University of California, Berkeley has produced more volunteers (3,497).

UW–Madison has ranked high on the Peace Corps’ Top Colleges and Universities list for 12 years in a row, ever since the annual ranking system began, including six years (2001-06) in the No. 1 spot. This year, the top spots belong to the University of Colorado at Boulder (112) and the University of Washington (110).

Over the agency’s history, 5,630 Wisconsin residents have served as volunteers, with 229 currently in the field.

For Ginsburgs, global interests are contagious

November 23, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

Her work, first with 3M and then with a commercial law firm affiliation, drew Sue Ginsburg into the international marketplace.

“I have been exposed to and learned a lot about our global economy and doing business with other countries,” says Ginsburg, who now heads GrowthLynx, a Minneapolis marketing firm. “I love meeting people from other cultures, learning about their cultures, connecting the dots, helping expand business internationally, and figuring out how to successfully do business together.”

As her global affinity grew, she didn’t leave it at the office. She carried her international interests home, into her children’s classrooms and now to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

“I always spoke to my children about where I was going, and what it was like, always emphasizing there were as many similarities as there were differences,” she says.

WPR Airing Peace Corps Stories, Documentary

November 08, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

Wisconsin Public Radio is recognizing 50 years of the U.S. Peace Corps with a special series of broadcasts, November 5-11.

Since 1961, Wisconsinites have responded to President John F. Kennedy’s call for international service in record numbers. More than 2,942 UW-Madison alumni have served in the program, second only to the University of California-Berkeley on the all-time service list.

The broadcasts kicked off with Peace Corps Voices, a one-hour documentary from independent producer Amy Mayer that includes interviews with volunteers who served around the world during each of the past five decades and recordings that they made in their host country.

This also features a special series of Story Corps segments recorded in Madison during the spring 2011. These personal interviews were conducted by the national Story Corps initiative in conjunction with the UW-Madison’s African Studies Program conference “Peace Corps and Africa: Honoring 50 Years.”

The documentary and interviews are available for listening online.

Listen to the broadcasts

New documentary highlights Mildred Fish-Harnack

November 01, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

A new one-hour documentary on Mildred Fish-Harnack—Milwaukee native, University of Wisconsin alumna, and the only American woman executed on direct orders from Adolf Hitler—is scheduled to premiere Monday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Television (WPT).

Also, a free preview screening of Wisconsin’s Nazi Resistance: The Mildred Fish-Harnack Story is scheduled Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., at UW Hillel/Barbara Hochberg Center for Jewish Student Life, 611 Langdon Street, Madison. Rudy Koshar, UW-Madison professor of history and religious studies, will introduce the showing, and a question-and-answer session with WPT producer Joel Waldinger will follow.

“The Mildred Fish-Harnack Story will incorporate historical video from Milwaukee, Madison, Berlin and WWII Germany,” Waldinger says. “Newly uncovered information, official German documents and papers from U.S. archives will provide a glimpse into the world of the resistance.”

The documentary, narrated by actress and UW–Madison alumna Jane Kaczmarek, marks the latest effort to bring attention to Fish-Harnack’s story, which has been the subject of two books. In 1986, the Wisconsin Legislature designated September 16 as “Mildred Harnack Day” across in Wisconsin.

At UW–Madison, the Division of International Studies and the Global Legal Studies Center have honored her courage, idealism, and self-sacrifice through the annual Mildred Fish-Harnack Human Rights and Democracy Lecture. The series is designed to promote greater understanding of human rights and democracy.

Study Abroad Alum Returning to Troubled Country

October 13, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

Jenny Browne is excited about traveling to Sierra Leone this month to teach creative writing, but admits feeling a tinge of anxiety.

This isn’t her first trip to Africa. In June, Browne, an assistant professor of English at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, went to Kenya, where she taught Somali children in a refugee camp to write poetry through a program funded by the U.S. State Department.

But, even though she’s heading back to Africa under the same program, going to Sierra Leone is different. Browne has been there before—as a UW–Madison student 20 years ago—but had to leave the West African country early and abruptly.

INT'L@UW

Category Archives: Alumni

UW-Madison reaches 3,000 in total Peace Corps volunteers produced

For Ginsburgs, global interests are contagious

WPR Airing Peace Corps Stories, Documentary

New documentary highlights Mildred Fish-Harnack

Study Abroad Alum Returning to Troubled Country

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives