The Department of Political Science hosted the 55th Arkansas Model United Nations (AMUN) conference on November 20-21, 2020. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the conference was held virtually. Delegates from 18 high schools in Arkansas participated in the conference. Nelson Graves served as Secretary-General of the conference. Dr. Mark Elrod, Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, served as AMUN Conference Coordinator. Dr. Mark Mullenbach, Associate Professor of Political Science, served as AMUN Faculty Advisor Liaison. Dr. Houston Davis, UCA President, gave the welcoming address to the participating delegates during the Opening Session. The Opening Session also featured speeches by Nelson Graves (AMUN secretary-general) and Alex Battaglia (former AMUN secretary-general and Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic), who gave the keynote address.
The delegation representing the Czech Republic (Conway High School) won the Outstanding Delegation award. The delegations representing Canada (Bentonville High School) and Zimbabwe (ASMSA) won the Outstanding Delegation-Runner Up awards. Ten additional delegations won Outstanding Delegation-Honorable Mention awards, including Argentina (Conway High School), Brazil (Haas Hall Academy-Fayetteville), Democratic Republic of Congo (Bentonville High School), Egypt (Conway High School), Indonesia (Conway High School), Russian Federation (Bryant High School), South Africa (Pulaski Academy), United Arab Emirates (Thaden School), United Kingdom (Thaden School), and United States of America (Bryant High School).
Outstanding Delegate awards were presented to the top delegates in each of the ten committees, including Aardra Menon (Japan) – First Committee; James Quirk (Canada) – Second Committee; Lydia Quinn (Indonesia) – Third Committee; Janet Fu (Slovak Republic) – Novice General Assembly Committee; Knox Graham (PRC) – Security Council; Mariam Parray (Iran) – Historical Security Council; Jackson Guthrie (Mexico) – Economic and Social Council; Zoe Russell (Czech Republic) – Human Rights Council; Masheyat Rahman (Brazil) – Model International Court of Justice; and Courtney McGarrah (Mexico) – Permanent Council of the Organizations of American States (OAS).