Opportunity Amid Uncertainty

On a Monday morning in March 2020, Jeremy Gonzalez opened his email and learned he was being immediately evacuated from his Peace Corps post in West Timor, Indonesia. Although COVID-19 had prompted travel restrictions around the world, his order to return to the United States was sudden.

“Evacuation was pretty hectic because up until two days before, we were being told that we’d probably be staying,” says Gonzalez, who’d been teaching English and working on community environmental projects. “It was tough, especially when you’re trying to say goodbye to people that you’ve made connections with.”

After Gonzalez arrived back home in Tennessee, it didn’t take long for him to find his bearings. Just a few months later, he was on his way to earning dual degrees from the Maxwell School—a master of public administration and a master of arts in international relations—thanks to a special program for evacuated Peace Corps volunteers and U.S. Fulbright grant recipients.

When Maxwell’s enrollment staff learned of the imminent evacuation of 7,300 Peace Corps volunteers and 2,500 Fulbright grantees in the pandemic’s early weeks, they saw an opportunity to help. Application fees and GRE testing requirements were waived and admitted evacuees were granted scholarships equal to 50 percent of tuition.

All told, Maxwell enrolled 35 Peace Corps and 18 Fulbright evacuees into its M.P.A. and M.A.I.R. programs. The School has extended the waivers and scholarships for former Peace Corps volunteers and Fulbright scholars for the coming academic year. The initiative has been a success, says Cory Meyers, Maxwell’s director of enrollment management, “because the Maxwell School and the Peace Corps share a common mission to help make the world a better place for others.”

He adds, “We really see Maxwell as a natural extension to what students were doing in either the Peace Corps or Fulbright.”

Gonzalez had always planned to go to graduate school after the Peace Corps: When he left for Indonesia, he brought a heavy GRE test preparation book. After he was forced to return home, he heard about the opportunity at Maxwell.

“I did some research and found out the prestige of this program and what it offers to alumni,” he says. “I applied to other schools, but Syracuse gave me the best scholarship—and I wanted more of the practical skills that the Maxwell School focuses on.”

Domestically, Gonzalez is concerned with immigration policy. He hopes to one day run for legislative office in his home state, inspired by the legacy of his great grandfather, who was a senator in Cuba before the revolution. On the international side, his focus is on diplomacy in Asia, especially relations with Indonesia. He says a course on security challenges in Asia taught by James Steinberg, former dean and U.S. deputy secretary of state, has been particularly impactful.

“Professor Steinberg has a vast knowledge of Asian politics and Asian international relations,” says Gonzalez. “It’s very valuable to not only hear the theoretical knowledge that he has, but also the skills he has accumulated through many, many years of practice.”

This summer, Gonzalez is studying Bahasa Indonesia—Indonesia’s official language—through the State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship program.

The opportunities in graduate school have built on Gonzalez’s experiences in the Peace Corps and bolstered his interest in foreign service careers. He’s eager to return to Southeast Asia, he says, “to serve this country in whatever way I can, with the new knowledge and skills I have, in an area we are going to have to compete in.”