Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Robert C. Morris can be contacted at rands.morrisaverizondnet
Country of Service: Pakistan, 1961-63
Training Group: Not sure what you mean but we were the 6th PC group sent
abroad.
Cities you served in: Lahore and Lyallpur (now Fasilabad).
Arrival Year: 1961
Departure Year: 1963 as vol., then 64-65 as Assistant Director
Work Description: Taught animal nutrition at universities and conducted cattle
fattening research and helped local butchers organization in setting up feedlots
to utilize largely wasted high energy materials for meat production and draft
animal recovery.
Other Countries you served in, Training Group Name Arrival Year, Departure Year,
Work Description:
1966,consultant in Sweden for six months to its newly evolving
national volunteer service, Svensk Fredskar and participation in
preparation of its first group.
1967, appointed in Washington as Deputy Director of the School
Parnership Program.
1968-69. Appointed by Peace Corps to the International Secretariate
for Volunteer Service, a multi-national information and volunteer
service promotion organization.
Bring us up to date on your life after the peace corps:
As many know,"..after the Peace Corps" never seems to entirely
happen. Between each of the activities listed in your 'work
description' section, I had thought I had completed my involvement
with the Peace Corps.
In 1970 I took a masters in International Agriculture at the U. of
California/Davis. As a side activity, I also decided to write a book on
the other national (PC type)volunteer organizations, i.e., such as the
Swedish group I mentioned, those I encountered while with the
International Secretariat for Volunteer Service and other groups I
learned about.
In 1971 I received a grant from the Social Science Research Councel
wich took me to Colombia for two years of work with the
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Continuing the
side activity, I completed the book and it was published in 1973 as
'Overseas Volunteer Programs: Their Evolution and the Role of
Governments in Their Support.' A review of this book by the former
Director of the U.K.'s Volunteer Service Overseas, VSO, can be found
in the 'Community Development Journal 11 (2): p. 155-57, 1976.
Again saw this activity as wrapping up my involvement with
international volunteer service.
In 1974 Michigan State University offered me the position of Director
of their Communication Workshops which were conducted to provide
international graduate students studying at universities throughout
the U.S. under sponsorship of USAID, with training in communication
skills to complement and assist in introduction and implementation
of their principal academic training. During this period and for a time
after, I completed work on my Ph.D.
I had become very interested, through the communication skills
training program, in the potential for short-course training to
enhance the impact of training acquired abroad in returning home.
As that program was not continued, I established in 1978 the
Management Training and Development Institute (MTDI), and added
more emphasis to basic management and project management skill
factors.
In the course of the next 22 years, i.e., til now, we have trained
more than 10,000 participants from 123 countries. Mostly this has
been foreign graduate students attending our two-week scheduled
workshops but a number have been in special programs requested in
the US and abroad for persons who were not students,
i.e.,government officials and others from a number of countries,
sometimes as groups for specialized topic areas that they would
request.
I retired in 2001 from being Director of MTDI though I remain on the
Board and involved. This has given me some time to repond to
activities I have long had to set aside. One of the most interesting of
these is the indication by a number of the 'Peace Corps-type'
organizations of other countries for a reconsideration of the
movement and where it has gone over the years since I wrote the
previous book.
I am, therefore, now in the process of getting into this activity. I can
write about the different philosophies and stuctures and experiences
of the various organizations but an essential element will be the
thoughts of the volunteers (present or former). I would very much
welcome any comments from RPCVs or PC staff or anyone with
experience working with or encountering volunteers of these
programs of other countries that will provide insight into activities,
including were there may have been opportunities of joint efforts.
Bob Morris
Any thoughts you have now looking back on peace corps days?:
I think that written above illustrates the impact the experience had
on my life.
Anyone you are looking for or would like to hear from?:
Always delighted to hear from former volunteers whether I served
with them or not.
Any message for returned volunteers?:
In particular, I would like to hear from those who have known and/or
worked with the volunteers of the national volunteer exporting
programs of other countries, as described at the end of my
comments in the 'Bring us up to date' section above.
Originally posted: February 18, 2002
