Cal State San Bernardino’s Model United Nations team continues to be among the world’s best teams, receiving multiple awards at the closing ceremonies of the 2015 NMUN-Europe Conference held this past week in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
“This is an amazing win for Cal State San Bernardino,” said Kevin Grisham, a CSUSB assistant professor in geography and environmental studies and the faculty adviser for the Model UN Team. “Our Model UN team went against some of the strongest MUN teams from around the world.”
Grisham praised the student delegates, who spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Europe for the conference, for their exceptional dedication and determination.
“Our students did a remarkable job. Even after traveling so far and half of the team getting sick for two days, they still represented the campus and our community in an amazing fashion,” Grisham said. “I heard from multiple colleagues from other universities around the world how professional and prepared our students were during the entire trip. I am extremely proud of them and they once again proved why CSUSB MUN is one of the most premiere MUN programs in the world.”
The four CSUSB students representing the State of Israel were awarded Distinguished Delegation (second place prize at the conference). And they also received the Outstanding Position Paper award in one out of the two committees to which they were assigned, Grisham said. The Outstanding Position Paper honor is awarded on pre-conference preparation: The team submits in a two-page paper that reflects the positions and prescriptions they have on the two assigned committee, he said.
The four CSUSB four students representing the Federal Republic of Germany won Outstanding Position Paper in two of the three committees they were assigned to at the conference, Grisham said.
The CSUSB team representing Israel team won the highest award of any university or college campus in the Western North American region.
In addition, Juan Garcia Moreno, the CSUSB 2014-15 ASI vice president, and his teammate, Mario Moreno, both of who are in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences’ master of arts social science and globalization program, won Outstanding Delegates for their committee.
The Cal State San Bernardino Model United Nations program is considered among the top programs in the world. The program has taken 23 Outstanding Delegation awards over the past 25 years of CSUSB’s participation in Model United Nations around the world.
In November 2014, the program was named the Outstanding Delegation in the Northwest Model United Nations-Seattle conference, and in November 2013 it took the top honor at the National United Nations-Korea conference in Seoul, Korea. At the annual National Model United Nations Conference in March 2015 in New York City, the largest such conference, CSUSB’s two teams were earned Outstanding Delegation awards – one of only two universities to do so.
“Without the support of the Geography and Environmental Studies Department, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the entire campus community, this would not be possible,” Grisham said. “I’d like to thank them all.”
For more information on the CSUSB Model United Nations and Model Arab League program visit the program website.
Set in the foothills of the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains, CSUSB is a preeminent center of intellectual and cultural activity in inland Southern California. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015, CSUSB serves more than 20,000 students each year and graduates about 4,000 annually.
For more information about Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007 and visit http://news.csusb.edu.