From March 23 to March 25, 2023, twenty-five UNCG students attended the Southern Regional Model United Nations (SRMUN) conference in Charlotte, NC. Model UN is a simulation of international diplomacy in which students represent UN Member States and negotiate resolutions to key problems in international relations.

At this spring’s SRMUN, UNCG students represented six UN Member States—Barbados, The Netherlands, Rwanda, Singapore, Sweden, and the United States—on five UN committees: the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, International Organization of Migration, and UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Serving on these committees, UNCG students contributed to the successful negotiation of resolutions addressing various issues, including economic stabilization, multidimensional poverty, gender equality, and civilian protection in armed conflict. For their efforts, members of the UNCG delegation returned to Greensboro with eight conference awards, including for Distinguished Delegation (Singapore), Outstanding Chairperson (ECOSOC, UNRWA), Outstanding Position Paper—Delegation (Netherlands, Sweden, Singapore), and Outstanding Position Paper—Committee (IOM, UNRWA)!

This marked the fifth consecutive spring SRMUN at which UNCG delegates won one or more conference awards.  More importantly, SRMUN provided students with the opportunity to learn more about international relations, develop and practice their negotiation skills, and make connections with students from other institutions; as Catherine Lerma ’23, the current president of the Model UN Club, commented, “UNCG students prepared extensively prior to the conference and not only received a plethora of awards but successfully practiced diplomacy and collaboration with other students.” This experience was made possible with the generous support of a grant from the Kohler Fund administered by the UNCG International Programs Center, and student members of the UNCG Model UN Club are already busy preparing to attend conferences in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Students interested in joining this club or learning more about Model UN, including opportunities to earn course credit, should contact the faculty moderator, Dr. Michael Broache (mpbroach@uncg.edu) of the Department of Political Science and member of the International & Global Studies Advisory Committee.