Meet Cori Crocker
(May 13, 2021) Cori Crocker is part of the growing and supportive Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) community at East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health.
Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Crocker majored in marine science and minored in French at the University of South Carolina. When she graduated, she began looking for opportunities that married these two interests and decided to join the Peace Corps as a secondary-education volunteer in the West African country of Guinea.
“The position was an opportunity to teach science courses in a country whose official language is French,” Crocker said. “I have always had a desire to immerse myself in work that benefits others, and with an interest in different cultures, the Peace Corps position was a perfect fit.”
During her Peace Corps service, Crocker taught mathematics and physics in French for grades 7 through 10. She also engaged in secondary projects including coaching an all-girls’ soccer team to empower girls and creating a “Jeopardy!” style inter-school academic competition to improve academic achievement in 10th grade students.
“My time in Guinea as a Peace Corps volunteer exceeded my expectations,” Crocker said. “The lessons I learned were not only about my environment and the Guinean culture, but also about myself.”
Upon completing her volunteer service, Crocker was interested in pursuing another subject she discovered as an undergraduate: environmental health.
“I was originally interested in environmental health as an undergraduate when I took an elective titled ‘Oceans and Human Health,’” Crocker said. “The class obviously made an impression, because even after achieving my degree and serving overseas, I found myself researching environmental health programs.
“I was interested in the connection between the environment and human health. As a marine science major, I wanted to do work that would benefit the environment, but I was drawn to environmental health for my master’s degree because it would allow me to do work that would directly benefit human health.”
Crocker chose the Master of Public Health with a concentration in environmental health at ETSU because it had everything she was looking for in a program. She also was interested in ETSU’s program because it offers the Paul D. Coverdell Fellowship, which is a graduate fellowship program for returned Peace Corps volunteers.
After her experience in the Peace Corps, Crocker remains passionate about working in underserved communities. This summer, she is serving in the Commissioned Officer Student Training Extern Program of the United States Public Health Service. She will be assigned to the Indian Health Service in Eastern Arizona.
“I am looking forward to this opportunity to learn the duties and responsibilities of an Environmental Health Officer, and I may decide to pursue this area further following my graduation in May of 2022,” Crocker said.
In the meantime, Crocker is excited about her future in environmental health.
“Working in the environmental health field involves protecting human health and promoting healthier environments for communities,” she said. “The importance of this field could not be clearer at this time now that we are facing the coronavirus pandemic.”