Wright State Model United Nations team named Distinguished Delegation at national conference

For the 43rd consecutive year, the Wright State Model United Nations program won a team award at the Nation Model U.N. conference in New York City.

Wright State University’s Model United Nations team received a Distinguished Delegation Award at the 2023 National Model U.N. conference, which attracted nearly 170 colleges and universities from around the world on April 2–6.

This is the 43rd consecutive year the Wright State Model U.N. program has won a team award at the international conference in New York City.

Four Wright State students also received awards at the conference.

Miranda Stidham, an English major, and Huda Maarouf, a mechanical engineering major, won an Outstanding Paper Award in their committee, the U.N. Environment Assembly.

Merve Hanzade Aslan, an industrial and systems engineering major, and Coen Lucas, a political science major, received a peer-awarded Outstanding Delegates in Committee Award for their work in the Peace Building Commission.

Wright State Model U.N. team represented Portugal at this year’s conference. The team’s faculty advisors are Vaughn Shannon, Ph.D., professor of political science, and Liam Anderson, Ph.D., professor of political science.

“We’re proud of our students’ achievement and recognition. Lots of hard work went behind it all, from the delegates to the head delegates who led them,” Shannon said.

During the conference, Wright State students participated in a briefing with the Portuguese Mission to the United Nations.

This year’s team includes head delegates Chase Harness and Rama Shtaieh, and team members Barbara Agyapong, Marwah Almuzoughi, Merve Hanzade Aslan, Eliza Hendrix, Mikayla Hildebrand, Lilith Holloway, Molly Holloway, Bradley Klingbeil, Amber LeNoble, Coen Lucas, Huda Maarouf, Destiny Mullen, Miranda Stidham, Jaelynn Thomas, Faith Thompson and Murphy Vanbalen.

During the National Model U.N. conference, Wright State students attended a mission briefing hosted by Portugal’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations.

During the National Model United Nations conference, each participating university is assigned a country to represent. Students participate as delegates to various U.N. committees, researching and formulating political positions based on the actual policies of the countries they represent.

Founded in 1970, Wright State’s Model United Nations program is open to students from all majors. Interested students interview in the fall and participate in a three-credit-hour political science class during Spring Semester.

Students learn the skills of teamwork, problem-solving, diplomacy, public speaking, technical writing and researching. They also learn how to implement a different country’s national and foreign policy, how to dress, how to act in committee and what to expect from other countries at the conference.

Learn more about Wright State’s award-winning Model United Nations program at wright.edu/modelun.