CAHSS Students Receive Honors at the 2018 Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference


The Nova International Relations Association (NIRA) is the Model United Nations team in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS). NIRA recently participated in the Southern Regional Model United Nations Conference in Charlotte, NC. This year’s theme was “Global Interdependence and the Changing Role of the United Nations.”

Over 40 colleges and universities participated including Clemson University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Middle Tennessee State University. Nine delegates from NIRA participated including Celina Mahabir, Joshua Hallinger, Varsha Gopaulchan, Patrick Pyott, Esperanza Bautista-Ulerio, Emily Gillman, Afrin Naz, Haley Tract, and Leydi Mocarro. NIRA participants come from a variety of undergraduate majors throughout the university.

This year the NIRA team represented two countries, Turkey and Ukraine, in five different UN communities. Celina Mahabir argued before the International Criminal Court (ICC), only the second time a delegate from NIRA was selected for this assignment. His committee chair praised Joshua Hallinger for his work on the UN Security Council. Leydi Mocarro and Patrick Pyott received the top award in their committee for representing Turkey in the General Assembly, while Afrin Naz received the same representing Turkey in the African Development Bank committee. At the awards ceremony, NIRA received one of the five Outstanding Delegation awards for their representation of Turkey.

In addition to the student participants, three NIRA alumni volunteered to help staff the event. Mei Pou Ho Man ran the ICC, Vanessa Duboulay ran the Security Council, and Desiree Kennedy served as the Director General. Kennedy has been a volunteer for the last 4 years. It was announced that she was elected to be the Secretary General for next year’s conference. This is a huge honor for NIRA, CAHSS, and for NSU. For more information about NIRA, please contact faculty advisor, G. Nelson Bass, J.D., Ph.D., faculty in the Department of History and Political Science at nbass@nova.edu.
https://nsunews.nova.edu/cahss-students-receive-honors-at-the-2018-southern-regional-model-united-nations-conference/