The Model United Nations program at Cal State San Bernardino maintained its tradition of excellence at the recent National Model United Nations conference in New York City, bringing home a Distinguished Delegation Award, four Outstanding Position Papers in Committee Awards and an Outstanding Delegates in Committee Award. The team, representing the country of Mexico, received its award in the UN’s Grand Hall at the end of the annual conference, which ran from April 13-18. “The amazing success at this international venue is proof of the amazing education and support they receive from CSUSB and the Inland Empire Community,” said associate professor Kevin Grisham, the faculty advisor to the CSUSB Model UN Team and chair of the geography and environmental studies department. “This success is even more amazing when you put it in the context of the previous four decades.  This was the largest delegation we have ever taken to the National Model UN Conference and for 70 percent of the team members, this was their first time ever participating at the NMUN Conference. “This award was even more special and personal for a large majority of the team members who families are from Mexico,” Grisham said. “Many of their parents were excited to see their children represent a place and culture that is home to them.  This made the experience and the great success even more special to the students and to me that I could contribute to their education in a small way,” Grisham came back to the CSUSB campus to experience another honor. He was surprised with the news that he had been named winner of the 2018-19 Golden Apple award, the university’s highest award for teaching. In the context of CSUSB’s participation in the National Model UN and international Model UN conferences in the last 28 years (the university has participated in the program for 42 years), the honors place the university among the top programs in the world.  In addition to the students participating in the New York conference, CSUSB MUN students have also competed and won awards in South Korea, Czech Republic and Canada.  In the fall 2019 quarter, CSUSB MUN students will compete in Erfurt, Germany at the 2019 NMUN-Germany conference. Yet, it’s more than awards. It develops leadership skills of its student delegates who come from all academic disciplines, gives them a broader perspective of the world, and a high level of professionalism into their chosen careers.  The National United Nations Conference in New York City is the oldest collegiate Model UN conference in the world, which has its roots in the intercollegiate Model League of Nations simulation that was held at Syracuse University in 1927.  The conference became NMUN in 1967 and CSUSB’s Model UN students have been participating in the conference since its founding as first a club in 1977 by Professor Emeritus Brij Khare, CSUSB Department of Political Science, and later as an academic program by Professor Emeritus Ralph Salmi, CSUSB Department of Political Science.  “We are one of only eight programs globally who have been participating for as long as we have at NMUN Conferences,” said Grisham. “We have won the top award of Outstanding Delegation for 25 years out of the past 28 years and many other awards (Distinguished Delegation and Honorable Mention awards) through the 42 years of the program’s history.  The conference in New York City annually has over 6,000 colleges students from six of the seven continents each year with every state in the U.S. represented and an average of 35 countries from around the globe every year.  The awards show that CSUSB students can compete on any stage of academic competition around the globe.” Past participants in the Model United Nations program have said the simulations gave them real-life experiences in diplomacy and relationship building. Some program graduates have embarked on careers in diplomacy, while others have gone on to prestigious graduate programs, such as the Harvard School of Law.  Many of the alumni come back every year to speak to the next generation of CSUSB MUN students and help support them through mentorship, providing students with networks around the globe and fiscal support. “CSUSB MUN is a large extended family that connects Coyotes around the globe and these connections continue to help CSUSB alumni long after they have left our campus,” said Grisham. To learn more about the Model United Nations program, which is housed in the university’s Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, visit the NMUN website. To learn more about the CSUSB Model UN program, or to contribute, contact Kevin Grisham at kgrisham@csusb.edu or (909) 537-7569, and visit the CSUSB Model United Nations website.