Lee Eavy is a former Peace Corps volunteer, serving in Nepal 21 years ago
Peace Corps Volunteer Joins WIU Faculty, IIRA
Until June of this year, Lee Eavy lived in a town surrounded by mine fields in the remote reaches of eastern Angola. His life has quieted down considerably since he's moved to Macomb to take the position of manager for WIU's Peace Corps Fellows Program.
Eavy and his wife Barbara most recently lived in Angola, on the southwest coast of Africa, where they worked with Save the Children to provide emergency food services and programs to restart Moxico Province's agricultural base.
"This is a country troubled by guns and tension. The people live in an environment of fear," Eavy said. "We were in Angola because there was important work to do. We were there one year and left only because the situation became too threatening."
Angola is just one of the many countries in which Eavy has lived and worked as an agroforestry and agriculture development specialist. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer, serving in Nepal 21 years ago. He grew up as a dairy farmer, and has degrees in natural resource management, entomology and forest biology. For the past 10 years, he has worked in various overseas locales such as Cape Verde, Lesotho, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Eavy's job as Peace Corps Fellows program manager for Western's program through the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA) at WIU is a result of his wife's quest for continuing education. Barbara Eavy is a member of the 1997 class of Peace Corps Fellows, in the geography department.
Managing the Peace Corps Fellows program consists of recruiting communities in which the Fellows can serve their 11-month community development internships, and supporting the Fellows while at their internship sites, among other duties. Next semester, Eavy will also teach a senior-level conservation course through the agriculture department.
"I like the opportunity this job gives me to support the IIRA, the Fellows Program and the State of Illinois," Eavy said. "It feels right to do this. The work is fun, challenging, and it really is humanitarian."
