CENTER FOR GLOBAL PROGRAMS

Under the guidance of its director, Dr. Jonathan Scriven, the Honors College Center for Global Programs provides outreach opportunities to academy students interested in foreign policy and international relations. March 21st marked the fifth annual CAPITALMUN conference, welcoming 125 academy students from the Columbia Union to WAU’s campus to participate as diplomats in discussions surrounding significant global events and crises in various committees. This year’s theme was “Security in the Age of Modern Technology,” with the keynote speaker, Cassia Carvalho, the executive director for the US-Brazil Business Council at the US Chamber of Commerce. CAPITALMUN began in 2019 and has included three in-person and two virtual conferences. In 2022, the MUN program expanded to include conferences for WAU students. WAU now participates in the annual NATIONALMUN-DC conference, the largest university MUN conference in the country.

Model United is also going global at WAU! This past January, a group of students and teachers from Columbia Union academies traveled to The Hague, Netherlands, for The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) conference to participate in United Nations committees along with 2,500 other student delegates from around the globe. It is worth noting that WAU is the only Adventist college or university with a Model United Nations program.

WHAT IS MUN?

Model United Nations (MUN) is an academic simulation based on the activities of the United Nations. The simulation allows students to role-play as they discuss and debate important global events from the perspective of various countries and organizations.

At MUN conferences, student delegates come together over the course of one or more days to collaborate on ways to find solutions to global problems. Delegates work together to create, debate and adopt formal resolutions that address each issue up for debate.