2024 UN Student Seminar

MCC UN Office 2024 Student Seminar, "Peacebuilding: Does the United Nations Matter", will be held in New York City, November 13-15. The seminar will be in person only.

This seminar is primarily for undergraduate students at Anabaptist colleges and universities in Canada and the U.S. International students are especially encouraged to participate.

From devastation and injustice in Palestine-Israel, to decades of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to military rule in Myanmar, to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, to 70 years of a divided Korean peninsula, to US-China superpower battles which can paralyze decisive UN action, what role does – and can – the UN play for better or worse in terms of meaningful action for peace? Through engagement with UN diplomats, UN peacebuilding staff, and grassroots civil society peacemakers, the seminar will provide students an opportunity to look closely at the UN system – its gifts, challenges, and opportunities for authentic peacebuilding.  

MCC is serving now, and has for decades, in all the above places of conflict and high tension. And we are present at the United Nations, engaging diplomats and the UN system about these crises. In this three-day seminar, students will:

• Engage the theme with presenters from the fields of UN diplomacy, international NGO’s, and MCC experts and partners.
• Learn about and evaluate the UN’s “New Agenda for Peace."
• Learn about the work of the UN, about faith-based advocacy, and about calls to reform the UN.
• Take a tour of the United Nations building and engage with one another within the UN’s dynamic setting in New York City.
• Engage a mix of plenary sessions and small groups offering high interaction with experts.
• Connect with and learn from fellow students.
• Apply learnings to their own context.

Scholarship Opportunity

The MCC United Nations office is offering scholarships of $150 and $250 USD to supplement financial support from schools and to help with the cost of travel and lodging. Scholarships will be designated to students who lack sufficient funding from their school to cover the full cost of their travel to and lodging in New York City.

1.) Applications will be reviewed as they are received and, if approved, scholarships will be awarded on a rolling basis. The final application deadline for students to apply for a scholarship is October 1st at 11 pm Eastern Time.

2.) Students who apply for a scholarship will be asked to indicate the cost of their travel and lodging, the amount they are receiving from their school (or other support), and a requested scholarship amount.

3.) All students who apply to the seminar, including those who apply for scholarships, once they receive notice of acceptance, will receive a link to register for the seminar and pay the $75 USD seminar fee. Those who were awarded a scholarship will receive their funds after the seminar is over.

4.) As noted above, there will be a rolling application process for both seminar attendance and scholarship. On October 1st at 11 pm Eastern Time the seminar and scholarship application period will end.

The earlier you apply for the seminar and a scholarship, and if you have a clear need, it is likely you will receive a scholarship.

Participant/application guidelines

Priority will be given to students from Anabaptist-related schools in Canada and the U.S. Applicants must meet the following criteria:  

• Be an undergraduate student in a U.S. or Canadian school
• Have strong interest in issues related to areas such as peacemaking, international relations, Christian nonviolence, the United Nations
• Commit to full participation in the seminar and all its activities

Location: The seminar will be held in New York City at the Church Center of the United Nations, across the street from the UN building. The address is 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, New York 10017. The MCC UN Office is located in the building.

Schedule: The seminar begins with registration at 4 p.m. on Wednesday November 13 and ends with lunch on Friday November 15. Full schedule to come.  

Note: There will be a 45-minute online session one week before the seminar to provide a brief introduction to the seminar and the UN Office. Those who are unable to attend are required to watch the recording of the session before arriving in New York City.

Application final deadline: October 1, 2024.  

Application: Fill out and submit the application below.

Seminar fee: $75 USD from accepted participants.  

Application process: After applying you will receive a confirmation email. Spots are limited and applications will be accepted on a first-come first-serve basis. If your application is approved, you will receive instructions about how to register and pay the $75 USD seminar payment.  

Lodging: Participants arrange their own lodging in New York City during the seminar. See list of some more affordable options here: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/G0a7Z178LgBxhdAc?ref=Link

Scholarships: Students should contact their school to see if there are any scholarship possibilities.  

Confirmed presenters include:

Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett is the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations since October 2020. She previously served at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as the Director of FAO Liaison Office in Geneva (2017-2020) and as FAO’s Special Coordinator for Parliamentary Alliances (2015 to 2017) in Rome. Prior to her tenure at FAO, Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett served as Guyana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Cooperation from 2008 to 2015 and Minister for Amerindian (Indigenous Peoples) Affairs from 2001 to 2008.  During the 14-year period of her ministerial tenure, she also served as a Member of Parliament.

Pastor Victor Dogos of Chad is the first recipient of MCC’s Michael J. Sharp Global Peacemaker Award. A Christian from a Muslim background trained in theology and law, Dogos has been a national leader in Chad to encourage people of all religions to live together in peace. Since 2012, Dogos has led peace and justice work with an MCC partner, the Partnership of Evangelical Churches and Missions in Chad. This includes building the peacebuilding capacity of youth and women leaders in the southern part of Chad. In 2022, Dogos helped pave the way to a peace accord between Chad’s provisional government and 45 armed groups. As an influential member of the Interfaith Platform of Chad, community and national leaders call on him to resolve violent conflicts and intervene in situations that have the potential for bloodshed. He has negotiated with the government and the military for the release of innocent civilians and has worked with government security forces to help them see the long-term effectiveness of peace over violence. His commitment to nonviolence and his creative peacebuilding work has impacted the people of Chad and the surrounding countries. When Dogos received the MCC award in 2023, it led to national celebration and extensive news coverage in Chad. Read more here: https://mcc.org/our-stories/pastor-receives-first-michael-j-sharp-global-peacemaker-award

Hailing from South Dakota, Faith Kroeker-Maus is a U.S. Foreign Service Officer currently serving as an economic advisor at the U.S. Mission to the UN (USUN). Faith served with the State Department in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Montreal, Quebec, and the State Department 24/7 Emergency Operations Center in Washington DC. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Faith worked at the FBI, the Infectious Diseases Institute in Kampala, Uganda, and the Salvation Army in London, UK. She holds a bachelor's degree from Bethel University in Saint Paul, MN and a master's from the University of Denver. Faith speaks French and Haitian Creole.  

Rev. Dionne P. Boissière is the Chaplain of the Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN). Rev. Boissière received her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York and served both the seminary community and the local church for over a decade as the Associate Director of Development and Alumni/ae Relations and Associate Minister of the New Hope Baptist Church in Danbury, Conn. Rev. Boissière serves on several international and community boards, including the Bureau of the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, the International Humanitarian Outreach Ministries, Inc., co-chair of Ecumenical Women at the United Nations, the Black Religious Scholars Group, the W.A.N.T.E.D. Project, and WomanPreach! Inc.

Chris Rice, the seminar facilitator, has served as Director of the MCC UN Office since 2019. From 2014-2019, Chris and his wife Donna served as MCC Co-Representatives for Northeast Asia, based in South Korea. This included regional peacebuilding work and Chris leading six MCC teams on humanitarian visits into North Korea. Prior to MCC, Chris served 10 years as cofounding director of the Duke Divinity School Center for Reconciliation. His three books include Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace, and Healing. His new book, From Pandemic to Renewal, was published by InterVarsity Press in spring 2023.

More information:

For more information about this seminar, please e-mail Victoria Alexander at the MCC UN Office VictoriaAlexander@mcc.org