Alumni Peace Corps volunteers share their lifelong passion for language

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is the country’s second-highest producer of Peace Corps volunteers. Now, two distinguished alumni share how the languages they studied as UW–Madison students languages not only helped them in the Peace Corps but influenced their personal and professional lives beyond their Peace Corps service.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, UW–Madison’s Language Institute presents “How Language Learning and the Peace Corps Influenced My Life,” featuring Wisconsin First Lady Jessica Doyle and campus Peace Corps representative John Sheffy. The speakers will discuss language learning, serving in the Peace Corps, and how those experiences led to lifelong passions and pursuits. Part of the ongoing Language for Life series for undergraduates, the event takes place at 4 p.m. in the On Wisconsin Room of the Red Gym, 716 Langdon St. The event is free and open to the public; free pizza will be provided.

Language for Life is a program of the Language Institute, giving current UW–Madison students the opportunity to meet with alumni who studied a foreign language as undergraduates and use that language in their professional or personal lives in inspiring ways. Previous events have featured alumni now working in fields as diverse as aerospace engineering, business, international development, journalism, government, law, medicine, sports and translation.

“We started Language for Life as a way to feature alumni using their languages in often-unexpected fields and interests,” says Sally Sieloff Magnan, director of the Language Institute and professor of French. “Students tell us that they really benefit from examples of alumni using their language skills in pursuits they’re passionate about.”

Doyle studied French and educational administration at UW–Madison, receiving an undergraduate degree in 1967 and a graduate degree in 1976. As a newly married couple, she and her husband, Gov. Jim Doyle, taught English to high school students during Peace Corps service in the North African country of Tunisia. A lifelong educator, she has taught at the elementary, middle- and high-school levels and continues to promote educational programs throughout the state.

Sheffy, a 2001 graduate and current Ph.D. student at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, used his skills in French and Ewe (a language spoken in the West African countries of Ghana and Togo) during his two years as a natural resource management volunteer in Togo. Sheffy also helped start a coffee-roasting co-op to improve local livelihoods and build community. Since then, he has applied his Peace Corps skills as a sustainable agriculture program manager in Kenya and Mexico.

This event is sponsored by the Language Institute, in partnership with the African Studies Program and LACIS, and made possible by the generous support of the Anonymous Fund. The Language Institute promotes and supports collaboration in education, research and outreach in world languages, literatures and cultures. It is an initiative of the College of Letters & Science, with substantial support from the Division of International Studies.