Programs News
First Peace Corps Fellows/USA chosen for IMBA program
Jaclyn Flewelling and Jeffrey Hansen returned recently from El Salvador and Ukraine, respectively, where they served in the Peace Corps. Now they are the first two Peace Corps Fellows/USA at the Moore School of Business.
Flewelling and Hansen, both age 26, have joined six other Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) as members of Moore’s International Master of Business Administration (IMBA) Class of 2007
Flewelling and Hansen are enrolled in the IMBA program as part of the Peace Corps Fellows/USA program, a graduate fellowship program begun in 1985 that offers financial assistance to RPCVs who wish to earn professional certification, master’s, or doctoral degrees in a variety of subject areas. Thirty-five universities across the United States currently take part.
The Moore School’s Peace Corps Fellowships, which are funded by the school, provide $20,000 a year for two years, a $4,000 work grant, and a reduction in tuition. To fulfill both their work grant requirement and the Peace Corps requirement that Fellows work with “underserved U.S. communities” during their graduate schooling, Flewelling and Hansen are working with the new Hispanic/Latino Initiative of the South Carolina Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which is housed in the Moore School.
That initiative, under the direction of SBDC State Director John Lenti, provides outreach to the fast-growing small-business Hispanic/Latino community in South Carolina.
Both Flewelling and Hansen are fluent in Spanish. Hansen, a graduate of Iowa State University, also speaks Ukranian and some Russian. Flewelling, who earned her undergraduate degree at Emory University, is enrolled in the IMBA program’s Portuguese Track; Hansen is in the Spanish Track.
“We have always had Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in the IMBA program,” says Reena Lichtenfeld, director of Graduate Admissions for the Moore School, “but not in such a formal sense.” The Peace Corps people “always bring something different to the table,” Lichtenfeld says. “They are sensitive to community needs, and they have a sense of humility because they have seen poverty. We are very pleased to have such a large group this year.”
As one of the nearly three dozen U.S. schools accepting RPCVs, the Moore School is now listed on the Peace Corps Fellows/USA Web site (www.peacecorps.gov/fellows). “We’ve been getting inquiries about our program at Moore,” says Lichtenfeld. “It’s a really good way to promote the IMBA program.” (The University of South Carolina’s College of Social Work also is a university partner in the Peace Corps Fellows/USA program.)
Flewelling says she had an “incredible” three years in El Salvador, where she taught English, was involved in community development, and oversaw construction of a rural civic and health center. She hopes to work for a non-governmental organization in community development, probably in Latin America, when she finishes her IMBA degree in 2007.
Hansen, who taught business courses at the university level in Ukraine, says he would like to work in the ecotourism field, probably in Latin America, when he finishes his studies.
The other Returned Peace Corps Fellows in the IMBA Class of 2007, and the locales where they served, are: John Henderson, Kenya, East Africa; David Holmes, Republic of Sao Tome e Principe, Central Africa; Thomas Mason, Bulgaria; Daniel Perlmutter, Panama; Richard Tracy, Lesotho, Africa; and Ethan Wang, Moldova.