WSU News Archive

By Allison Hartinger, WSU Honors College

 

 

 

PULLMAN, Wash. — Honors College students from Washington State University received two Outstanding Position Paper Awards at the 2012 National Model United Nations (NMUN) Conference in New York City. Honors students represented the country of Oman.

 

Left to right: Bill Smith, nine students, and Omani Ambassadors

First day of conference for students.

Megan Garrity, a senior communication major in the Honors College, was a member of the committee that won an award for their paper about human trafficking, indigenous populations and transnational organized crime. Dane Hansen, a senior mechanical engineering and Chinese language major in the Honors College, was on a committee that won an award for their paper about illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in Africa, measures to prevent and deter cyberwarfare, and implementation of the biological weapons convention.

 

The Honors students met in April at the United Nations (UN) building with more than 5,400 students from 315 schools on six continents. They represented the country of Oman, located in the Middle East which is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the west and the Arabian Sea on the southeast. The WSU students met with the UN ambassadors from Oman to ask questions relating to issues in their position papers. They learned more about the country and its culture and were treated to traditional Omani foods.

 

 "They were some of the nicest, most cordial people I have ever met,” says Kyle Heckenlaible (’12 Communications and the Honors College) says. "It was an overwhelmingly positive experience that all of us will remember fondly.”

 

For a decade, Bill L. Smith has led Honors NMUN preparation courses and trips to the conference in spring. Most recently, he has taught "The UN and Global Diplomacy,” a junior-level Honors global issues in social science course. Smith is the director of the Martin Institute and Martin School at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

 

In 2002, NMUN was comprised of 2,600 students; participation has more than doubled in the past 10 years. Honors students who take Smith’s course this fall will have the opportunity to partake in the spring 2013 NMUN Conference in New York City.

 

Contact:
Allison Hartinger, Communications and Marketing Assistant, Honors College at WSU, 509-335-8070, UCHCCommMar.7@wsu.edu

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