The Clark University Model UN Team has concluded a successful fall semester, winning numerous awards and looking forward to more strong performances next year.
The Clark team participated in the Boston Area Regional Model United Nations held at Boston University, in the 43rd National Collegiate Security Conference at Georgetown University, in the Northeast Regional Model Arab League conference at Northeastern University, and in the University of Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference held in Philadelphia.
“Our team did a fantastic job this year,” said Clark University Model UN faculty adviser Srinivasan Sitaraman, associate professor of political science. He added that the team “was particularly thrilled with the entry of several first-year students into the program” and he anticipates that many would emerge to play an active role in the coming years.
Update: Clark’s Model UN Team is ranked 13 in the Fall 2015 North American College Rankings (World Division).
At Boston University, Clark senior Justin Lewis won the Best Delegate Award; Brendan Burgess ’18 received an Honorable Mention; and Caleb Horton ’17 received a Verbal Commendation. At Georgetown, Clark University won the Best Small Delegation Award at the National Security Council Simulation. Doga Bilgin ’16 received an Outstanding Delegate Award and both Lance Yau ’16 and Corie Welch ’17 received Honorable Mentions.
At Northeastern, Clarkies Michael Pierce ’16 and Absar Ali ’18 received Outstanding Delegation Awards. In addition, the Clark team received a Delegation Award. At the University of Pennsylvania Conference, sophomore Burgess received an Honorable Mention, Bilgin and Joya D. Hall-Sullivan’19 won a Verbal Commendation, and Lewis was awarded the top prize of Best Delegate.
Bilgin (majoring in math and economics) and Lewis (an economics and political science major) are Head Delegates and student leaders of the Clark University’s Model UN Program.
The Clark MUN team also hosted its 6th Annual High School Model UN Conference at Clark in November. This was the largest high school conference hosted by Clark, drawing more than 200 students from the New England area. The keynote speaker was Clark alumnus and former Model UN team member Sarkis Balkhian ’09 (political science), who earned an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Relations from Yerevan State University. Clark undergraduate teammate Welch served as the conference Secretary-General.
Clark University will host the Middle School Model UN Conference on April 2, 2016, with the cooperation of the UN Association of Greater Boston.
The team is also gearing up to participate in McGill University Model UN Conference (late January), at Harvard University (February), Brown University and Five Colleges Conference later in the spring semester.
