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KEENE, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire university is partnering with the Peace Corps to allow students to complete advanced graduate work during their volunteer service.
The new program — being launched this summer by Antioch University New England in Keene — will let students combine Peace Corps service with doctoral degree work in the university's Department of Environmental Studies.
The program will consist of two years of courses at Antioch, 27 months in the Peace Corps and then a return to Antioch to write and defend dissertations. Students will earn 12 credits tuition-free for the service and research conducted while volunteering in the Peace Corps.
University officials say the program is the first to award such credit at the PhD level.
"The benefits to choosing this route to pursue a doctoral degree are endless," said James Gruber, director of Antioch's graduate program in Environmental Studies. "In addition to the economic efficiencies and exceptional academic structure the program offers, the opportunity to learn from and about those you are helping instills an incredible sense of pride, selflessness and achievement that traditional educational pathways can't always provide."
Antioch University serves adult students around the world — online and from its five campuses in four states.
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