During the Friday, December 6, 2024 meeting of the UCA Board of Trustees, the UCA Model United Nations (MUN) student organization was recognized with the Bear CLAWS award.  CLAWS, which is an acronym for Celebrating the Lofty Achievements of Our Wonderful Students, is awarded to one or more exceptional students or recognized student organizations during regularly scheduled board meetings.  Accepting the CLAWS award presented by President Houston Davis were President Jaylan Harris, Vice President Emily Temple, AMUN Secretary-General Julien Mrad, and Secretary Kyle Urban.  The faculty advisers for the UCA MUN are Dr. Mark Elrod and Dr. Mark Mullenbach.

Eight UCA students participated as delegates to the 64th annual Midwest Model United Nations (MMUN) conference in St. Louis, Missouri on February 21-24, 2024.  Students from 29 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. participated in the conference, including delegations from the University of Central Arkansas, John Brown University, Northwest Arkansas Community College, and Ouachita Baptist University.  The UCA delegation, which represented Albania and Qatar, consisted of Julien Mrad (head delegate, Albania-Security Council), Emily Temple and Laura Carillo Rodriguez (Albania-4th Committee), Graham Clark (Albania-WHO), Jaylan Harris (head delegate, Qatar-2nd Committee), Taylor Brewer (Qatar-4th Committee), Dice Ferguson (Qatar-UNEA), and Kyle Urban (Qatar-WHO).  UCA graduate Lauren Clark was selected as a Legal Counsel for the Fourth Committee (General Assembly).  Dr. Mark Elrod, a lecturer in the UCA Department of Government, Public Service, and International Studies, was the faculty advisor for the UCA delegation to the MMUN conference.  Dr. Elrod also serves as a faculty representative on the Board of Directors of the MMUN.  The UCA delegation representing Qatar was recognized as one of the Distinguished Delegations for its overall performances during the conference.  Jaylan Harris (Qatar) was recognized as an Outstanding Delegate-Honorable Mention in the Second Committee (General Assembly).

The Department of Political Science and the UCA Model United Nations (MUN) student organization hosted the Arkansas High School Model Arab League (AHSMAL) Conference in the UCA Student Center on March 10-11, 2023.  The conference was sponsored by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) in Washington DC.  The AHSMAL conference, originally known as the South Central States Model Arab League (SCSMAL) conference, was previously held at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville from 1996 to 2010 and the University of Arkansas-Little Rock from 2011 to 2020.

More than 150 students from ten high schools, representing the 22 member-states and several observer states of the League of Arab States, participated in the conference.  UCA graduate, Sarah Fulmer, served as Secretary-General for the Conference.  UCA student, Gabriel Mince, served as Assistant Secretary-General, and UCA student, Julien Mrad, served as chair of the Council on Social Affairs.  Dr. Mark Mullenbach and Dr. Mark Elrod of the Department of Political Science served as faculty advisors for the UCA MUN student organization.

During the closing session, outstanding delegation awards were presented to the following delegations: Algeria (Pulaski Academy), Eritrea (Pulaski Academy), Sudan (Pulaski Academy), and the Syrian National Coalition (Conway High School).  In addition, distinguished delegation awards were presented to the following delegations: Egypt (Haas Hall Academy-Bentonville), Morocco (Bryant High School), Oman (ASMSA), and Yemen (Haas Hall Academy-Fayetteville).

Eight UCA students participated as delegates to the 63rd annual Midwest Model United Nations (MMUN) conference in St. Louis, Missouri on February 22-25, 2023.  Students from 26 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. participated in the conference, including delegations from the University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro, John Brown University, Northwest Arkansas Community College, and Ouachita Baptist University.  The UCA delegation, which represented the United States of America and the Czech Republic (Czechia), consisted of Allison Hellard, Kyle Urban, Gabriel Mince, Julien Mrad, Lauren Clark, Emily Temple, Aminatou Adeniji, and Kayla-Anne Rocher.  Dr. Mark Elrod, a lecturer in the UCA Department of Political Science, was the faculty advisor for the UCA delegation to the MMUN conference.  Dr. Elrod also serves as a faculty representative on the Board of Directors of the MMUN.  The UCA delegation representing the United States and Czechia were recognized as Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mentions for their overall performances during the conference.  Lauren Clark (Czechia) won the Outstanding Delegate and Delegate’s Choice awards in the First Committee (General Assembly).  Julien Mrad (USA) won the Outstanding Delegate-Honorable Mention and Crisis awards in the Security Council.

Six UCA students participated as delegates to the 62nd annual Midwest Model United Nations (MMUN) conference in St. Louis, Missouri on February 23-26, 2022.  Students from more than 30 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. participated in the conference, including delegations from the University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro, John Brown University, Lyon College, Northwest Arkansas Community College, and Ouachita Baptist University.  Rachel Bowen Pittman, who serves as Executive Director of UNA-USA, gave the keynote speech during the opening session of the conference on Wednesday, Thursday, February 23rd.  The UCA delegation, which represented Vietnam, consisted of Lauren Clark, Cooper Horton, Isabella Kopittke, Julien Mrad, Becca Owen, and Joshua Waack.  Dr. Mark Elrod, a lecturer in the UCA Department of Political Science, was the faculty advisor for the UCA delegation to the MMUN conference.  Dr. Elrod also serves as a faculty representative on the Board of Directors of the MMUN.  The UCA delegation representing Vietnam was recognized as Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention for its overall performance during the conference.

(l to r):  Dr. Mark Elrod, Julien Mrad, Cooper Horton, Joshua Waack, Isabella Kopittke, Becca Owen, and Lauren Clark

Four UCA students participated as delegates to the 61st annual Midwest Model United Nations (MMUN) conference on February 18-20, 2021.  Students from 28 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. participated in the three-day virtual conference, including delegations from the University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro, John Brown University, Northwest Arkansas Community College, and Ouachita Baptist University.  Akin Aytekin, a journalist in Istanbul, and Irfan Saeed, Deputy Coordinator (Acting) of Prevention & Detention Office in the Bureau of Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State, gave the keynote speeches during the opening session of the conference on Thursday, February 18th.  The UCA delegation, which represented the People’s Republic of China, consisted of Abby Mattingly, Sarah Fulmer, Michael Langley, and Vito Whitmore.  Dr. Mark Elrod, faculty member in the Department of Political Science, served as the faculty advisor for the UCA delegation to the MMUN conference.  Dr. Elrod was re-elected to a three-year term as a faculty representative on the Board of Directors of the MMUN.  The UCA delegation representing the People’s Republic of China was recognized for several awards during the closing ceremony, including Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention (General Assembly First Committee-Sarah Fulmer), Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention (Security Council-North, Abby Mattingly), and Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention (Security Council-North, Crisis Simulation, Abby Mattingly).  The UCA delegation representing the People’s Republic of China was also recognized as Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention for its overall performance.

Six UCA students participated in the 60th annual Midwest Model United Nations (MMUN) conference held in St. Louis, Missouri on February 19-22, 2020.  Several hundred students from 35 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. participated in the four-day conference held at the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet.  Carlos Suarez, President of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) of St. Louis gave the keynote speech during the opening session of the conference on Wednesday, February 19th.  The UCA delegation, which represented France, consisted of Analese Cash, Dylan Garrison, Jaylan Harris, Hope Menendez, Quade Reed (head delegate), and Vito Whitmore.  Dr. Mark Elrod, faculty member in the Department of Political Science, served as the faculty advisor for the UCA delegation to the MMUN conference.  Dr. Elrod is also currently serving as a faculty representative on the Board of Directors of the MMUN.  During the closing session on Saturday, February 22nd, the UCA students were recognized for several awards, including Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention in the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) – France (Dylan Garrison and Hope Menendez); Delegates’ Choice Award in the UNEA – France (Dylan Garrison and Hope Menendez); Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention in the General Assembly Plenary – France (Dylan Garrison, Hope Menendez, Analese Cash, and Vito Whitmore); and Delegates’ Choice Award in the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) – France (Jaylan Harris).

Twelve UCA students participated in the 59th annual Midwest Model United Nations (MMUN) conference held in St. Louis, Missouri on February 20-23, 2019.  More than 350 students from some 30 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. participated in the four-day conference held at the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet.  Wes Rogerson, an Officer for Global Health Advocacy at the United Nations Foundation (UNF) in Washington DC, gave the keynote speech during the opening session of the conference on Wednesday, February 20th.  The UCA delegations, which represented Afghanistan and Peru, consisted of Layla Alhajjaj, Skyler Austen, Carolyn Casey, Dylan Garrison, Nelson Graves, Mya Hall, Ganell Jones, Cagney Kilgroe, Abby Mattingly, Quade Reed, Riley Tribble, and Kenny Vo.  Dr. Mark Elrod and Dr. Mark Mullenbach, faculty members in the Department of Political Science, served as faculty advisors for the UCA delegations to the MMUN conference.

Six UCA students and Dr. Mark Elrod in the Department of Political Science recently participated in the 58th annual Midwest Model United Nations (MMUN) conference in St. Louis, Missouri on February 21-24, 2018.  More than 300 students from 33 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. represented more than 100 countries during the four-day conference held at the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet.  The UCA delegation representing Ethiopia included Pauline Audras, Abby Mattingly, Elsa Mattson, Quade Reed, Ellen McKinnie, and Carolyn Casey.  Carolyn Casey, a junior double-majoring in International Studies and Political Science, won the Outstanding Delegate-Honorable Mention and Delegate Choice awards in the Security Council.