Kansas State University’s Model United Nations team has successfully returned to competition. The team won three awards at the 54th Midwest Model UN Conference in St. Louis in February and four awards at the American Model UN International in Chicago in November. These were the first Kansas State University teams to compete at Model UN competitions in over 30 years.
The team was relaunched by John Fliter Jr., associate professor of political science, as part of the activities associated with his term as the university’s 2013-2014 Coffman Chair for Distinguished Teaching Scholars. Carla Martinez Machain, assistant professor of political science, is the team’s co-advisor.
In Model UN competitions, teams typically role-play delegates to the UN. Each team is assigned certain countries to represent, and awards are given for team members who excel in their delegate roles. Kansas State University teams represented the Philippines, Czech Republic, Senegal and Ecuador in St. Louis and Congo, Malaysia, and Romania in Chicago. Both KSU teams were among the largest at each competition, underscoring the considerable student interest across campus in Model UN competitions.
The team hopes to compete in the St. Louis and Chicago competitions again next year. If you would like to support KSU’s Model UN team, please contact Emily Mahoney from the KSU Foundation at emilym@found.ksu.edu.