It’s not often that a college program ranked No. 2 in the nation cuts its recruiting staff without planning to replace it.
But due to budget and contract conflicts, the UF International Center will not replace the recruiter for its Peace Corps program this year.
“We proposed a process to Peace Corps but simply weren’t able to come to terms with them,” said the dean of the UF International Center, David J. Sammons.
In the past, UF subsidized its Peace Corps recruiter’s wages. This year, UF won’t pay for a recruiter.
The recruiter helped students apply for the Peace Corps in the Hub.
This Spring, and for the second consecutive year, UF’s program ranked second in the nation in overall number of volunteers, with about 100 undergraduates.
Amy Panikowski, who had been UF’s recruiter since 2005, said she is worried UF’s Peace Corps success might not continue after the recruiting office removal.
“UF has what Peace Corps needs,” Panikowski said. “There is a lot of untapped talent around campus that may not realize this is something they can do.”
Sammons said he hopes to keep the Peace Corps program at UF strong.
“We’ve been a very fertile ground because of the recruiter we had,” he said. “We’re going to offer the same services through working with volunteers that have returned as faculty members or are working in town.”
Sammons said negotiating the return of a recruiter would depend on how the program fares this year.
Panikowski remained wary of the decision to remove the office.
“Students knew they could walk in, whether they were freshmen, sophomores or seniors, and talk,” she said. “It remains to be seen what that’s going to be like in the future.”
Contact Michael Scott Davidson at mdavidson@alligator.org.
