The University is the top producer of Peace Corps volunteers in the mid-Atlantic region. About 60 alumni are currently overseas with the Peace Corps, and more than 470 have participated in the program since 1961. The Peace Corps offers programs for almost any major or background. The majority are based on education, but some deal with fields like the environment, business, agriculture and health care. Among University alumni now in the Corps, the most common majors are English and biological sciences.
Environmental studies runs a close third.
The Corps decided his skills were needed in Gabon, where he taught math, science and English to the French-speaking teenagers there. In Gabon, Miller said, there are very few cars and hitchhiking is the most common means of travel. Since it is the norm to travel with strangers, he said, hitchhiking in Gabon has developed into a means of social interaction. America, though, is a different story. Boelens, however, said he welcomed the American transportation system after experiencing heavy city traffic every day for the first two years of his stay in Thailand.