Light & Verity

Alumni by the numbers

Mark Zurolo ’01MFA

Mark Zurolo ’01MFA

View full image

The Peace Corps celebrated its 50th anniversary in March, just two months after the death of its founding director, Sargent Shriver ’38, ’41LLB. Shriver was only the first of many Yalies in the Corps: among the organization’s 200,000 volunteers have been 994 Yale alumni—a tiny percentage, but much bigger than the percentage of Yalies among all higher-ed grads—and they have served in nations from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The largest share joined in the 1960s, when the Corps had as many as 15,000 volunteers a year; its current total numbers run around 8,000 a year.

The comment period has expired.