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College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral & Social Sciences

Panelist Bios

Peace Corps Panel, February 17, 2015

Julia Capizzi
Field-Based Recruiter
Julia Capizzi, Field-Based/Diversity Recruiter, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador from 2002-04. A West Michigan native, Julia received her BA in Communication at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI and earned a Master’s in Public Administration from the Price School at the University of Southern California (USC).

As a Peace Corps volunteer, Julia organized a women’s cooperative in a small rural village as an income generation project.  She also taught Reproductive Health Education in the local school, helping students to build self-esteem and creating a participatory lesson guidebook in Spanish. Becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer was an introduction to a career in service.

Upon returning from Central America, she worked in a bilingual community outreach capacity at an urban residential boys’ home. She then became a Peace Corps Recruiter in Chicago, where she traveled regionally and met amazing people who wanted to start their own Peace Corps adventures. Juilia then coordinated community programming for college freshmen at USC for two years and supervised a team of Americorps volunteers as a Program Manager for City Year. Julia says it is a privilege to return to Peace Corps Recruitment.

Julia says her Peace Corps experience affected her future and her career in profound ways. “It showed me that I can make a difference as a leader and gave me unique opportunities to understand another culture, travel to various Latin American countries and develop advanced Spanish skills. I felt like I was ready for anything after Peace Corps service.” She participated in the Peace Corps Coverdell Fellow’s Program while earning her graduate degree, allowing her to save on student loans, immerse herself in studies full-time in a new part of the country, and attend a nationally ranked academic program.

Julia can be reached by email at jcapizzi@peacecorps.gov. 

Theresa Elders, M.S.W.
University of California Alumna 1978
Four-time returned Peace Corps Volunteer & Peace Corps Medical Staff
2006 Community Service Award (Social Work)
Theresa Elders M.S.W. ’78 has worked tirelessly in both the United States and abroad through such agencies as Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, the Arkansas Department of Health, and both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps*VISTA, championing causes for healthy lifestyles in healthy environments. Moreover, Elders has taught others to do the same, training counselors, social workers and teachers, and speaking at conferences worldwide on health and social service issues.

Four times Elders volunteered with the Peace Corps, working overseas for 10 years. Her first tour was in Belize, establishing a nationwide child abuse prevention program. After, she spent three years in Guatemala, independently consulting for orphanages, then rejoined Peace Corps to work in remote rural areas of the Dominican Republic, establishing volunteer pre-schools. In Seychelles she advocated for youth development, working with the Ministries of Education, Health and Social Services, and helped establish a national social worker association. Finally, in 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she served in the gulf states with the first group of Peace Corps/Crisis Corps Volunteers ever to work within the United States. She also recently completed a year as an AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer in her retirement community of Colville, Wash., promoting health care occupations.

From 2000-04 she took a leadership role in the Peace Corps as a program and training specialist in the Center for Field Assistance and Applied Research. In this role, she provided technical assistance to the field and headquarters on health and HIV/AIDS issues in both InterAmerica/Pacific and Europe/Mediterranean/ Asia Regions. She covered all aspects of maternal and child health, including prenatal and neonatal care, nutrition, potable water, prevention of teen pregnancy, HIV/STDs, substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and suicide.

Earlier, Elders worked for 16 years with Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, where, as a psychiatric social worker, she set up an innovative parent outreach project at MacLaren Hall. In the late 1990s, she was the state adolescent and school health coordinator at the Arkansas Department of Health, focusing on behavioral health issues, encouraging communities to adopt strengths-based approaches to reduce risky youth behaviors. She was particularly active in teen pregnancy and adolescent suicide prevention efforts.

In earlier years Elders served on the board of directors of the Long Beach YWCA WomenShelter and the Fine Arts Clinic for Abused Children. Additionally, she is a lifelong freelance writer and editor, and continues to travel widely.

“Terri is truly a health and social development professional who has had a global impact.” -- Erik Janowsky, health programming specialist, Peace Corps

Emily Howe
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer
Emily Howe served as a U.S. Peace Corps rural community health volunteer from 2005-2007 in Benin, West Africa.  She is a licensed attorney in California, Massachusetts, and Washington D.C.  In San Diego, Emily worked with the Distinguished Lecture Series at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice and legal assistance program the Employee Rights Center, where she met a group of refugees in the taxi industry and now serves as the Legal Director of the United Taxi Workers of San Diego.  While working in the British Parliament in London, England and Capitol Hill in Washington, DC., she was encouraged to apply for the U.S. Peace Corps.  She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Washington & Lee University and Juris Doctor at the University of San Diego School of Law.


Kim Knowles-Yanez, Ph.D.
Professor, Liberal Studies, CSUSM
Kim Knowles-Yanez served in the U.S. Peace Corps from 1989-1991.  She worked on gardening and environmental education projects in coordination with the National Agriculture Program in Los Rios Province, Ecuador.  She has returned to Ecuador many times over the years and remains in contact with her Ecuadorian colleagues and other Peace Corps volunteers.  The fact that she earned a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning after returning from the Peace Corps is directly related to the projects she worked on in Ecuador.  At CSUSM she is a Professor in the Liberal Studies Department, Coordinator of the Border Studies Program, and Interim Coordinator of the Integrated Credential Program.


Jill Weigt, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Sociology, CSUSM

  • Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, 1991-1993
  • Worked with the NGO Africare to educate local population about HIV/AIDS, train primary and secondary teachers to teach sexual health, and organize a condom distribution program. Organized a survey of 900+ locals on birth control and STD prevention practices
  • Worked in AIDS epidemiology after the Peace Corps before getting my PhD in Sociology in 2002
  • Presently teach courses in families, poverty, human service delivery, qualitative methods; involved in 2 ongoing research projects: families who have timed out of TANF and  work and gender equality at an American corporation in Iceland.