About Us

Richard Murgo retired as Dean of the College of Social Sciences at Tallahassee State College in 2021. Dr. Murgo joined the faculty of TSC in 1994 as an assistant professor, later becoming professor of political science. He subsequently became the college’s Director of Academic Enrichment, latterly promoted to Associate Dean of Social Sciences. He was selected as Dean of Social Sciences one year later. He holds master’s degrees in political science from Florida State University and in Applied Economics from the University of Central Florida. He received his Ph.D. from Florida State University. Dr. Murgo served as faculty Senate President 2005-2006, has served as the dual enrollment education coordinator of the statewide Florida Boys State and Girls State programs, and was advisor and co-founder for the TSC Model United Nations program at Tallahassee State College. He founded and developed a faculty exchange program with Tianjin Foreign Studies University, as well as developed partnerships with other colleges for students’ study abroad programs in China and the Czech Republic. Dr. Murgo has also served on the United Nations Association of American Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Community Colleges Committee. Dr. Murgo served has served as vice president, treasurer, and currently president of the National Model United Nations Board of Directors.  He is a current member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Florida Political Science Association, a former board member for the Florida College System Activities Association, a former   elected chairman of the Holocaust Education Resource Council board of directors, as well as a member of the Board of Directors for Tallahassee Southern Model United Nations Association. He has been the political contributor for WXTL, ABC News affiliate for Tallahassee and Southern Georgia. Dr. Murgo has presented numerous papers including, “United Nations Human Rights Treaties: Obligations and Compliance” and most recently, “EU-China Relations: Balancing Economic Opportunities with Political Challenges”. Richard Murgo is the recipient of the 2012 NICSOD Excellence in Teaching award, as well as the 2011 recipient of the Tallahassee State College Club Advisor of the Year award.

Crissy is a Teaching Professor of Political Science at West Virginia University where she directs the Model United Nations program. She received her doctorate in Political Science with a focus in International Relations and International Political Economy. A West Virginia University (WVU) faculty member since 2006, she served as the assistant director of the Multidisciplinary Studies Program, currently serves as the director of the International Studies Program (an interdisciplinary major with approximately 200 students), and serves as the director of the Honors College upper-division Experiential and Community Engaged Learning Program. In addition to her Model United Nations course, she often teaches Introduction to International Relations, Global Political Issues, and Capstone courses. Her current research focuses on experiential education and innovative teaching techniques and their link to bridging social capital. Crissy is engaged in her community as a Rotarian and a Scout leader.

Patrick is currently the counsel and director of government affairs for The American Waterways Operators, a maritime trade association headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metro area. He earned bachelors degrees in International Relations and Animal & Nutritional Sciences from West Virginia University and his juris doctor from American University's Washington College of Law.

Patrick's involvement with NMUN has spanned a decade of involvement in every type of NMUN conference as a delegate and member of the volunteer staff at conferences in New York, Washington DC, Quito, Rome, and Xi'an. During his time on staff, Patrick served in several roles from Assistant Director to Secretary-General of NMUN•DC in 2015 and NMUN•NY in 2017, and Deputy Secretary-General of NMUN • China in 2018. 

Marc Scarcelli is a Professor of Political Science at Cal Poly Pomona, where he serves as advisor to the NMUN team. He previously served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Ohio University and Bowdoin College. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis and his B.A. from Purdue University. His area within Political Science is International Relations; he teaches courses on a range of topics centered on security and political violence. His primary research focus is on ethnic conflict and modern civil wars. He also maintains a strong personal interest in matters of extreme poverty, stemming from his background of involvement, years ago, with humanitarian development work in Haiti.

Tina is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Stockton University in New Jersey where she teaches undergraduate courses in international relations, international political economy, global governance, quantitative research methods, and an interdisciplinary first-year course on global challenges. Tina holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and an M.A.in Economics and PhD in Political Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the founding advisor of Stockton’s Model UN program, campus liaison for the State Department’s Diplomacy Lab program, and co-facilitator for the Stockton Critical Thinking Institute (SCTI). Her research on international financial institutions and scholarship on teaching and learning has appeared in World Development, International Studies Perspectives, and Routledge’s RIPE Series in Global Political Economy. She is the lead author of " Global Challenges: Promise & Peril in the 21st Century", a digital textbook/course published in Smart Sparrow’s adaptive learning platform (blendedcourses.org). Tina is the recipient of Stockton’s 2016 Faculty of the Year Award.

Michael has served as full-time Executive Director of NMUN since 2004 and has helped expand its annual programming to include more than 5,000 college participants. Prior to his current position, he was the Director of Enrollment Services and Marketing for the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (www.hecua.org), an educational nonprofit offering social justice-based off-campus study programs.

He began his undergraduate studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and attended NMUN as a student delegate. He ultimately received his B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and his M.A. in Nonprofit Management and the scholar award from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. Additional honors include being named a Truman Scholar. He completed the coursework for a doctorate in International Education at the University of Minnesota (ABD).

Michael has served as an adjunct faculty member at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota; a Trustee of the Center for UN Reform Education, a board member and past-President of the United Nations Association of Minnesota, as well as multiple terms on the National Council of UNA-USA. He resides in Minnesota.

Pamela Falk is a UN Resident Correspondent & Foreign Affairs analyst for CBS News TV & Radio and writes columns for various publications. She is on the Board of Directors of the Dag Hammarskjöld Fund for Journalists and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She received her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law and her Ph.D. from New York University. She has taught at Columbia Law School and Columbia SIPA and was a staff director on Capitol Hill.

Qazi Shaukat Fareed, became the Permanent Observer of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean to the United Nations in 2015.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Fareed was an adjunct professor at Long Island University, since 2010, following a 40-year career as a diplomat and an international civil servant.  From 2006 to 2011, he was Special Adviser to the Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and from 1998 to 2006 he served as Director of the Secretariat of the United Nations Systems Chief Executives Board.

He was Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and Deputy Coordinator for Chernobyl at the United Nations Department for Humanitarian Affairs between 1992 and 1998.  Prior to that position, from 1987 to 1992, he served at the office of the Director General for Development and International Economic Cooperation as Senior Adviser to the Director-General and as member and then Director of the Special Commission on Review of Intergovernmental Structures in the Economic and Social Sector.

Two decades of diplomatic service saw Mr. Fareed serving as Director-General of Pakistan’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1987 after holding several positions in the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations between 1980 and 1987, including Deputy Permanent Representative and Ambassador.

He also held various positions at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.  Between 1975 and 1980, he was Chef de Cabinet in the Office of the Secretary-General and in the Office of the Foreign Secretary.  During that time, he also served as Director for Africa and for External Publicity.  Between 1968 and 1975, he served in Pakistan’s missions in Mexico, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Spain.  He was Section Chief of Economic Coordination and United Nations Affairs between 1966 and 1968.

Mr. Fareed holds master’s degrees in economics from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and from the University of Karachi in Pakistan.  He also holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Government College in Karachi.

He is married and has two children.

Source: https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/bio4742.doc.htm

Linda Fasulo is a journalist and author specializing in the UN and US foreign policy. Based at the United Nations, she is a long-time independent correspondent for NPR News. Linda has worked as UN Correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC and as Special UN Correspondent for US News and World Report magazine. A frequent speaker on international issues, she has a Master’s in Public Administration and has also done graduate study in international affairs at Columbia University. Her popular book, An Insider's Guide to the UN, published by Yale University Press, is in its fourth edition. Besides English, various editions of the book have also been published in Chinese and Korean. Linda serves on the Executive Committee of the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA).

H. Stephen Halloway is Director, Center for Comparative Legislative Management at the International Law Institute and Course Advisor for Governance and Anti-Corruption. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to the World Bank. He was Head of Mission, United Nations Industrial Development Organization at United Nations Headquarters in New York. He was formerly Senior Advisor in the Inter-American Development Bank’s Office of External Relations where he had responsibility for Congressional Affairs and Private Sector Outreach related to the IDB Group. He served as Senior Advisor, North-South Trade and Investment, Ltd. Edmonton, Canada as well as Senior Advisor to the President, Andrade Gutierrez Environmental Group (Brazil). He also served as the Chief Regulatory Officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Chief Counsel of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; MA in Political Science (Ford Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics) from Rutgers University and a J. D. from the Boston University School of Law.

Source: https://international.wisc.edu/staff/halloway-h-stephen/#:~:text=Washington%2C%20DC%20USA-,H.,Advisor%20to%20the%20World%20Bank.

Amierah is currently a humanitarian affairs officer in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She has served as a Professional Officer to the Permanent Observer Mission of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) to the United Nations. In that
capacity, she participated in meetings, programmes and events related to the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee (Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs), ECOSOC funds and programmes, issues related to climate change and other UN issues. Amierah has extensive experience in negotiating resolutions, working bilaterally and fostering relationships with member states, other intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations. Prior to her time at the OIC Observer Mission, Amierah managed Alumni Events for hundreds of Law School Alumni at the New York University School of Law. Additionally, Amierah served as the Global Classrooms Coordinator for the Global Classrooms programme at the United Nations Association of the United States of America in New York. Amierah's NMUN experience spans more than 10 years, from delegate to Assistant Director to Chief of Staff to Secretary-General in 2007. Amierah graduated with a degree in Political Science from The American University and a Masters in Global Affairs from New York University.

Millie Meyers served as the Outreach Coordinator through several administrations at the United States Mission to the UN.

Rachel Bowen Pittman serves as Executive Director of UNA-USA, a grassroots movement of more than 20,000 Americans in over 200 chapters across the U.S. who are dedicated to supporting the work of the United Nations in communities, on campuses, and on Capitol Hill. Rachel works to maximize UNA-USA’s advocacy impact by guiding the strategic vision for the organization, overseeing membership expansion, and managing partnerships. Rachel works closely with UNA-USA’s National Council and Affinity Group leadership to spearhead new initiatives that support a strong U.S.-UN partnership.

Before she was appointed Executive Director in June 2019, Rachel served as UNA-USA’s Senior Director of Membership and Programs. In this role, she managed UNA-USA’s national programs and events, including the annual Global Engagement Summit at UN Headquarters, Global Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., and UN Day events across the country. She also led a nationwide fundraising campaign to provide education to youth in refugee camps.

Prior to joining UNA-USA, Rachel served on multiple leadership teams for several professional associations that represented lawyers, surgeons, regulators and engineers. In her many accomplishments, Rachel strengthened membership programs, directed rebranding initiatives and secured agreements with national associations representing China, Korea, Argentina, India, Peru, Egypt and Mexico. While Rachel has worked with inspiring professionals across a diverse range of industries and cultures throughout her career, supporting UNA-USA staff and members in their efforts to make the future brighter is her greatest inspiration.

Rachel holds a B.S.B.A in International Business from American University and an MBA in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University.

Source: https://unausa.org/team/rachelpittman/

Kilaparti is currently serving as Senior Advisor to the President on Ocean and Climate Policy at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (www.whoi.edu). He was the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director at the Green Climate Fund until the end of 2020. Prior to this over a period of eight and half years he lived in South Korea serving the United Nations and the Green Climate Fund. At GCF he was the Head of Strategic Planning, at the UN, he was Director of United Nations Office for East and North-east Asia of UNESCAP. Other experience with UN includes five years with the UNEP. He came to these UN and intergovernmental organization positions from the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) where he served as its Vice President and Director of Policy. At UNEP he served for five years s its Senior Advisor of Environmental Law and Conventions, Principal Policy Advisor to the Executive Director of UNEP, and Chief of Cross-sectoral Environmental Issues. Ramakrishna’s prior experience with the United Nations system was when he worked as the Special Advisor in drafting the Framework Convention on Climate Change. He assisted with work on Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and subsequently worked as the Principal Officer for Implementation and Communication with the secretariat for the Biological Diversity Convention in Montreal.

Ramakrishna was a Visiting Professor of International Law at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He taught at Harvard Law School and at Boston University, Yale University, Brandeis University and Boston College Law Schools. He was an elected Life Member of the US Council on Foreign Relations and served on a number of Boards. Ramakrishna is part of number of scientific assessments and was one of the Lead Authors of IPCC, Fifth Assessment.

In his role as the Director and Head of UN Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia, he is responsible for implementing UN activities in the subregion comprising China, Mongolia, South Korea, North Korea, Russia and Japan and also provided secretariat services to the North East Asia Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation.

Richard Reitano, professor emeritus, led his first delegation of Dutchess Community College students to National Model United Nations (NMUN) in 1968 and stayed involved in the program for over 50 years. He began his service on the NMUN Board in the early 1990s. 

Douglas James Roche, OC, KCSG (born June 14, 1929) is a Canadian author, parliamentarian, diplomat and peace activist. Roche served as Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Edmonton—Strathcona from 1972 to 1979 and for Edmonton South 1979–1984.[1] In 1984, he was appointed Canada's Ambassador for Disarmament, a position he held until 1989. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada on September 17, 1998, where he served until June 13, 2004. Currently he resides in Edmonton, Alberta.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Roche

Hina Shamsi (@HinaShamsi) is the director of the ACLU National Security Project, which is dedicated to ensuring that U.S. national security policies and practices are consistent with the Constitution, civil liberties, and human rights. She has litigated cases upholding the freedoms of speech and association, and challenging targeted killing, torture, unlawful detention, and post-9/11 discrimination against racial and religious minorities. Her work includes a focus on the intersection of national security and counterterrorism policies with international human rights and humanitarian law. She previously worked as a staff attorney in the ACLU National Security Project and was the acting director of Human Rights First’s Law & Security Program. She also served as senior advisor to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions. Hina appears regularly in the media and has been quoted as a national security expert by numerous outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, and Reuters, and has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, NPR, ABC News, and the BBC. She is the author and coauthor of publications on targeted killing, torture, and extraordinary rendition, and has monitored and reported on the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay. She is also a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School, where she teaches a course in international human rights. Hina is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Northwestern University School of Law. 

Source: https://www.aclu.org/news/by/hina-shamsi

Chris Whatley joined HALO in June 2019. Prior to HALO, Chris served as Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the United States. Chris previously served as Deputy Executive Director of The Council of State Governments (CSG) and began his career as a field-based officer for the International Republican Institute (IRI), leading programs in Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Source: https://www.halotrust.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-people/

Robert is an award-winning investigative reporter focusing on national security at NBC News and a writer at NBCNews.com. He has been a member of the National Model United Nations Advisory Council since 2009. 

He has covered international relations and national security at NBC News for more than three decades. During that time, he’s reported on the rise of Al Qaeda, having produced the first network TV report on the group in January 1997. He was also the first network TV producer to bring TV cameras inside CIA HQ in 1993. He’s reported from more than 50 countries, winning more than 40 national and international journalism awards.

In 1994, he and William E. Burrows co-authored Critical Mass: The Dangerous Race for Superweapons in a Fragmenting World, all or significant excerpts of which were translated into seven languages. He taught Television Writing at NYU for 17 years.

He is also a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Fellow at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School and a member of the President’s Advisory Group at Seton Hall University, his alma mater where he received a B.A.
in Communication Arts.

Pam is the co-founder and Executive Editor of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin and Professor of Political Science at Manhattan University in New York. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on developing country capacity building for environmental negotiations, scientific uncertainty in negotiations, professional cultures in negotiations, land degradation and the UNCCD, and various environmental treaties and negotiating processes. Her most recent books are: Global Environmental Politics, 8th edition (Routledge 2021); Transforming Multilateral Diplomacy: The Inside Story of the Sustainable Development Goals (Routledge 2018); and The Roads from Rio: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiation (Routledge, 2012). 

Eugene Chen is a Senior Fellow at the NYU Center on International Cooperation where his research focuses on the interplay of substantive policy, intergovernmental politics, and bureaucratic processes at the United Nations.

Prior to joining NYU, Eugene worked in the United Nations Secretariat in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti, the Department of Field Support, and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Earlier in his career, Eugene served as lead negotiator for the US government at the United Nations General Assembly on subjects including peacekeeping financing and cross-cutting policy issues, the scales of assessments, and institutional reform. Eugene is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds both a BA in Government and an MPA from Cornell University.

Eric is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Texas Christian University, where he also directs the Model United Nations program. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. at the University of Virginia, and his B.A. at Austin College where he participated in Model United Nations as a student. He teaches Introduction to International Politics, Game Theory in International Relations, United Nations Institutions and Processes, and International Organizations Research. His first book, Why Enduring Rivalries Do---or Don't---End, examines the factors that lead rival states to the negotiating table through a comparison of rivalry relationships in the Middle East and Latin America. His current research focuses on the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Rebecca is Senior Lecturer of Political Science and Director of Engaged Learning Curriculum in the Office of Engaged Learning at Baylor University. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame and her B.A. at Wheeling Jesuit University. She has served as the advisor of the Model United Nations team since her arrival at Baylor in Fall 2010, and in addition to Model United Nations, she teaches courses in constitutional law, politics and religion, and political philosophy. Her research interests in politics and religion span normative, theoretical, and empirical approaches. As Director of Engaged Learning Curriculum in the College of Arts & Sciences she works with fellow faculty to develop courses that help students develop skills to orient and apply classroom learning toward broader public goods.

Caitlin was raised in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and currently lives and works in Washington, D.C. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh in 2015 with a BA in International Studies and is currently completing her Master's in Public Policy and Administration with a Global Policy emphasis at Northwestern University. She works at the World Resources Institute as the Global Board Affairs Manager, overseeing governance activities for the distinguished Global Board of Directors. In her spare time, Caitlin is an avid traveler, theater-goer, and loving parent to her two cats - Salami and Pepperoni.

Chase works as the Senior Cost & Pricing Manager at Creative Associates International, an international development organization and USAID Implementing Partner. Originally from Wisconsin, Chase is a graduate of University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, where he earned a BBA in Economics and Global Business. He now lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his dog, Tako, with whom he enjoys regular hikes in the DC area. Chase served on National Model United Nations volunteer staff from 2015-2024.

Citlali grew up in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and Hamburg, Germany, where she currently lives. She graduated from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich in 2016 with a MA in Political Science. Citlali works as a Delivery Lead at B9Lab, a company in the Web3 space focused on developer adoption. In her spare time, Citlali enjoys cooking, Pilates, and gathering with friends and family. 2024 marked Citlali’s 10th year attending National Model United Nations NY.

Nadine is currently living and working in Ottawa, Canada as a policy analyst in Federal-Provincial-Territorial Relations at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. She is a graduate of the University of Ottawa, where she earned a Bachelors degree in political science and a MA in Public and International Affairs. In her spare time, Nadine enjoys traveling the world, gathering with friends and family, and hiking. 2024 marked Nadine’s 10th year volunteering with National Model United Nations. 

Ana works as a government contractor within the U.S. Department of Defense space, mostly for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A native to Maryland, she earned her bachelor’s degrees in International Studies and World Languages at West Virginia University and her Master’s Degree in Global Environmental Policy from American University. She currently lives in Bethesda, Maryland where she is an active volunteer for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Danish Club of Washington, D.C. Ana volunteered at NMUN•DC for eight years.

Dominika is a Policy Analyst in the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction for the Province of British Columbia. She has been involved with NMUN since 2012 and has served on the New York volunteer staff for 8 years, most recently as Deputy Secretary-General for NMUN•NY 2019. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Political Science from the University of British Columbia and a Master of International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Switzerland.