Peace Corps Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program

Fellows develop the valuable Peace Corps experience into something even greater through the following:

• Full-time degree
• Part-time internship
• Full-time summer Co-op
• Peace Corps Practicum
• Residence in a vibrant city full of research opportunities

We are looking for RPCVs who want to expand on their Peace Corps Service, who want to take advantage of their new perspective, and who want to develop the skills they now have. UC’s program is full of planning professors with experience in working abroad who will help cultivate your passions, preparing you for a successful planning career. As the global founder of cooperative education, UC welcomes students who want to directly apply their passion for peoples’ capacity-building to their education.

UC ranks No. 4 among the nation’s elite institutions for Co-op education for 2022 in the U.S. News & World Report latest ranking. Among public universities, UC is No. 1 in the nation, higher than Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, Stanford University and many more. 

The University of Cincinnati’s School of Planning is within the College of DAAP. The programs within the College of DAAP are consistently ranked among the very best in both a world and national class. Planetizen has ranked the graduate programs in the School of Planning amongst the best: 1st among small programs, 4th in the Midwest and 20th in the nation. The University of Cincinnati’s School of Planning is the only planning school offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees with the integration of co-op work experience. The school offers a diverse learning environment and produces graduates with the credentials to practice as professional urban planners, both domestically and overseas.

Peace Corps service has sparked your passion and given you a new perspective. The Master of Community Planning degree will spark new ideas and provide the theory and technical skills necessary for your career. Students pursuing each of these degrees can learn from other students while continuing to reach Peace Corps’ 3rd Goal:

There are three available degrees for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) at the University of Cincinnati:

1. Master of Community Planning (MCP)

2. Juris Doctor and Master of Community Planning (JD/MCP)

3. Doctor of Philosophy in Regional Development Planning (PhD)

Each degree incorporates the Peace Corps service through similar means described below but will direct the student to various areas of employment depending on the degree path taken and which interests the student decides to develop. Collectively, courses in the School of Planning reflect a comprehensive approach to the social, physical, economic, environmental, political, health, and legal aspects of the study and planning of communities, landscapes, and environments from local, regional, and global perspectives.

• Students have the opportunity to complete a thesis incorporating the work they carried out while working overseas.
• Students may receive credit for prior graduate study; however, Peace Corps experience is not eligible for graduate credit.
• Upon completing the MCP/Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program, students will possess an invaluable combination of overseas and domestic work experience, and they will have the credentials to pursue a career as professional urban planners.

If you are yearning to continue helping others directly, the internship might be one of your favorite parts of the Coverdell Fellows Program. Each semester students will be placed in paid internships with community organizations consistent with their experience and interests. These agencies help underserved communities in Cincinnati through the Coverdell Fellows Program at UC. These are neighborhoods that have been neglected on the part of planners or places that lack services and opportunities for enrichment.

Internships are practical steps Coverdell Fellows take to apply their service to a community in the US. They are designed to pair well with the students’ passions in planning and working with and for underserved populations. Internships are found for the student by the Coverdell Fellows Advisor after consulting the student’s application materials.

Each semester, Coverdell Fellows typically work 20 hours of work per week, either as an intern for 20 or as an intern for 10 hours and a GA for 10 hours. Students earn approximately $10,600 per year.

Recent Coverdell Fellows have worked with: Price Hill Will, Cornerstone Renter Equity, Working in Neighborhoods, and the Cincinnati Department of Transportation and Engineering. In earlier years, we have had students working in the following agencies: Communities United for Action, Groundwork Cincinnati, Green Umbrella, The Center for Great Neighborhoods, Over-The-Rhine Community Housing, Smart Money, and more. 

Each semester, Coverdell Fellows typically work 20 hours of work per week, as an intern for 10 hours and a GA for 10 hours. Students earn approximately $10,600 per year. Students who are offered a GA work with various professors and staff and perform teaching assistant, office assistant, or research assistant positions.

Recent Coverdell Fellows have been Graduate Assistants with the following faculty:

• Dr. Johanna Looye (Peace Corps Program Coordinator)

• DAAP Cares Program (DAAP Dean’s Office)

• Dr. Rainer vom Hofe (Methods of Planning)

The program requires a full-time summer Co-op with an organization or agency that will be conducting a planning project during the summer. Several planning students have found Co-ops abroad and outside Cincinnati. Students are typically paid about $12 - $15 per hour depending on the contract. Many have returned to their Co-op for permanent employment. Check out the Student Profiles section to see where students have worked.

• Peace Corps Service: After teaching English in Thailand, Ian wanted to have an international experience that offered more “substance” and applied to the Peace Corps with his wife Shawn. Ian served as a Youth Development volunteer in a small town 100 miles from Marrakesh. While his Youth Community Center never opened, Ian found several projects that were valuable to him and his community.
  

• Why did you choose UC? Ian pursued a degree at UC to combine his bachelor’s degree and his Peace Corps experience with a planner’s perspective in order to serve the public and promote equity.

• Professional Goals: Ian is a recent MCP/Coverdell Fellow student. He served as an intern with the non-profit “Price Hill Will,” a holistic community development agency in the Price Hill neighborhoods of Cincinnati. The MCP/Coverdell Fellows program is helping Ian achieve his ultimate professional and personal goal of creating a more equitable society. Ian's goal is to continue in his work of fighting for more equal access to wealth, resources, and opportunities.

• Peace Corps Service: Jamie set off to Morocco to serve as a Youth Development volunteer in 2015 and enjoyed it enough to extend for a third year. Jamie made friends and motivated youth leaders in her community. Along with the good, Jamie faced challenges such as often being the only woman in predominantly male spaces, navigating and overcoming bureaucratic barriers, and homesickness after three years away from home. Even with these challenges, Jamie was able to do great work within her communities and encourages others to consider Peace Corps.

• What set UC apart from other schools you applied to? Good location, wide network of alumni, financial support, and work opportunities.

• Professional Goals: Jamie is a recent MCP/Coverdell Fellow and used UC to achieve her goals of providing a complementary balance of theoretical and practical knowledge in urban planning. To help with this goal, Jamie worked with Cornerstone Renter Equity, the City of Sharonville’s Community Development Department, MYCincinnati, a local foster care agency. She also is involved in community arts initiatives in Cincinnati.

• Email: Jamie Kreindler

• Peace Corps Service: Clancy was placed in a small town of approximately 7,000 in a historically impoverished area with an agricultural economy. Clancy worked with her municipality as a community development and urban planning volunteer, where her main projects were conducting regional training in GIS, assisting Women and Youth Economic Empowerment programs funded through the EU and USAID, and introducing the municipality to participatory planning practices.

• What set UC apart from other schools you applied to? Co-op Education Component, small class and cohort size, and affordable yet dynamic city with current and relevant urban challenges

• Professional Goals: Clancy’s time in Albania influenced her professional goal to pursue work in the sectors of urban planning and community development. At UC she is pursuing housing and community development.

• Email: Clancy Taylor

• Peace Corps Service: Will was an education volunteer in a village of 500 in the deep jungle of Liberia’s South East region. He enjoyed living off the grid, teaching students math, and learning and practicing the culture.

• What set UC apart from other schools you applied to? The program aligned with Will’s passion for paticipatory planning and transportation planning. He enjoys learning from so many professors with substantial experience working in developing countries.

• Professional Goals: Will wants to gain experience and skills at UC and to soon work in the world’s poorest communities to help develop non-motorized transportation systems and to incorporate equity in the planning processes.

• Email: William Rogers III

Interested individuals should contact Dr. Looye, the School of Planning’s Peace Corps Coordinator, to discuss admission to the university and present evidence of the dates and location of their completed Peace Corps assignment. In order to be considered for the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program, the following must be submitted to the School of Planning Peace Corps Coordinator:

• A copy of the applicant’s Description of Service (DOS)
• Motivation statement explaining interest in the Coverdell Fellows Program. The essay should indicate how their Peace Corps service directly related to pursuing a career in community planning and their interest in studying in the School of Planning at the University of Cincinnati
• A digital résumé appropriate for placement in a community agency
• Three letters of recommendation (preferred). However, for Fall 2022 admission, 2 recommendations will be required.

Cincinnati is a city with a wide variety of urban neighborhoods, each with its own unique character and challenges. Cincinnati offers planning students urgent issues to help observe, solve, and anticipate. With the guidance of planning professors, students will experience the city through a planner’s perspective, finding topics full of research potential: equity, housing, relationships between development corporations and neighborhoods, gentrification, transportation, land use, urban design, informal urbanism, and more.

As Cincinnati continues to grow and attract more and more people each year, community planners strive to make Cincinnati a place people are proud to call home, where voices are heard and where ideas are shared.