Southern Utah University selected to be Utah's second official Peace Corps Prep university

CEDAR CITY — Southern Utah University last month announced it has been selected as an official Peace Corps Prep university, becoming the Beehive State's second such institution and only one in southern Utah.

Utah State University is the other school that carries that distinction.

The Peace Corps Prep program is designed for undergraduate students of all majors and helps them build four key competencies: sector-specific skills, foreign language proficiency, intercultural competence and professional leadership and development.

The designation will grant SUU students the opportunity to prepare for international service and leadership through Peace Corps-aligned academic and experiential learning.

"The Peace Corps Prep program vets universities that apply to become part of the program and students from those universities that fulfill the requirements get a Peace Corps Prep certificate ... when they graduate from the program," said Kurt Harris, SUU's director of learning abroad and overseer of the university's implementation of the program.

The official certificate from the Peace Corps will enhance students' candidacy for Peace Corps service and other global and service-based careers.

"Some universities might have a link to Peace Corps, maybe their career services office has information about Peace Corps ... but the Peace Corps Prep program designation is much more in-depth preparation for students who are interested in serving abroad," Harris said.

Beginning January 2026, the university will begin accepting student applications for its Peace Corps Prep certification program that integrates coursework, volunteer experience and intercultural competence development to prepare students for "meaningful global service," according to a release from the university.

For students, Harris said this designation will give them the confidence and resources to participate in Peace Corps programming.

"I think that a lot of governmental organizations, they might appear, particularly to a student who comes from a rural background, maybe a first-generation student, to think, 'I could never serve in the Peace Corps. That's something people who graduate from Harvard and Stanford do,'" Harris said. "But somebody from SUU can do it, and we can kind of show them the path to getting into the Peace Corps."

It's not just courses and service, though.

Harris said the program will also include leadership training, resume building and working on interview skills to help SUU students market their experience and present themselves.

With the designation being relatively fresh, Harris said it's still a little too early to determine how much student interest the program will receive.

Still, he's optimistic.

"We have a global studies minor program which is geared toward students who ... whatever their major is, they want to enhance their intercultural knowledge and skills, understanding of global organizations, things like that, by getting a global studies minor," Harris said. "And I think that some of those students will be interested in the Peace Corps once we make them aware of the new opportunity that they have."

As the only Peace Corps Prep program in southern Utah, Harris also sees it serving a need in the region.

"Local young people who are going out into the world and kind of seeing how other people live, what other conditions are, there will be not only an appreciation for what they have back at home in southern Utah but maybe they'll learn new things (and) new ways to do things that they can bring back to their communities in the states, in southern Utah and apply those," Harris said. "I hope that it sort of creates some future leaders, too."

More information about the program and how students can apply will be made available through SUU's study abroad website later this year.

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