Discussing the importance and spirit of volunteerism, Gaddi H. Vasquez, the director of the Peace Corps, will speak to students at DePaul University at 2 p.m. April 6 in Room 120 of the Lincoln Park Campus Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave.

Vasquez is the 16th director of the Peace Corps. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on Jan. 23, 2002. He is the first Hispanic American to serve as director of the Peace Corps. Vasquez’s priority as director has been to revitalize the Peace Corps through a comprehensive outreach and recruitment program focused on attracting a diverse group of volunteers and staff from America’s best and brightest citizens.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. Three simple goals compose the Peace Corps’ mission: helping the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women; helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; and helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans. Today, more than 7,700 volunteers serve in the Peace Corps in 77 countries worldwide, assisting with education initiatives, health and HIV/AIDS outreach, environmental protection, business and economic development, agriculture and youth issues, among other projects.

The event is free and open to the public.

With a total enrollment of 23,570 students on two city and five suburban campuses, DePaul is the eighth-largest private university in the United States and the largest Catholic university in the nation. DePaul is an innovative and diverse university offering pragmatic educational programs that instill values, including a commitment to community service, and was recently named as one of the nation’s top "Colleges with a Conscience" by the Princeton Review.