Sept. 30, 2003

Contact: Kent McAnally, University Career and Employment Services, (785) 864-3624.

Peace Corps renews grant to fund recruitment office on KU campus

LAWRENCE -- The Denver Regional Recruitment Office of the Peace Corps has renewed a grant to fund the Peace Corps office at the University of Kansas for a third year.

The grant provides funds to promote and market Peace Corps opportunities and recruit potential Peace Corps volunteers. In addition, the grant funds a coordinator to serve as a liaison to the regional and national Peace Corps offices. The KU Peace Corps office is located within University Career and Employment Services in Room 110 of the Burge Union.

Betty Baron is the Peace Corps coordinator at KU. Baron, along with her husband, Frank Baron, KU professor of Germanic languages and literatures, served as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English in Ethiopia, for a year in Yirgalem and for a year in Addis Ababa at Haile Selassie University. She also has taught English as a Second Language in Germany and Hungary. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Michigan and attended graduate school at KU before teaching ESL at the Don Bosco Center in Kansas City, Mo., Penn Valley Community College and Johnson County Community College.

The Peace Corps coordinator is available to meet individually with students wanting to learn more about the Peace Corps or needing assistance with the application process. In addition, Baron is available to speak with campus groups and classes about Peace Corps opportunities. For more information, call (785) 864-7679 or e-mail peacecorps@ku.edu.