Perhaps it¿s cliché to call the Peace Corps life-changing, but for Jay Scribner, they were at least research-agenda-setting. His volunteer term in Costa Rica, coupled with an interest in policy issues, led the associate professor to pursue a career in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.

Twenty-seven months in Costa Rica are partly responsible for Jay Scribner¿s interest in educational policy.

The associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica after graduating with a bachelor¿s in economics and Spanish from Wake Forest University. For 2 ½ years Scribner worked with local high schools as an English and physical education teacher.

The result, he says: ¿The most phenomenal experience of my life and the most intense learning experience of my life. Because of the Peace Corps, I became interested in the bigger questions of education.¿

Scribner returned to the states and earned a master¿s in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. Shortly afterward, he studied for a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

At MU, Scribner has studied a variety of policy issues, including his most recent project ¿ an evaluation of the effectiveness of teacher certification programs across the state of Missouri. The project specifically focuses math and science teachers.

¿It¿s a fascinating policy issue,¿ he says. ¿How do we train and supply Missouri schools with the best teachers that we can?¿

The project is funded by the National Science Education Foundation, which aims to encourage research about math, science and engineering issues.  It¿s one project among many that has fueled Scribner¿s interest in policy since leaving Costa Rica.

¿My experience in the Peace Corps was so profound,¿ Scribner says. ¿I started thinking about what it means to be educated.  I¿ve always been interested in how people learn and what difference it makes in their lives.¿