Leon Charney Diplomacy Program

The Leon Charney Diplomacy Program was established at Florida Atlantic University in 1996. Since its inception, the program has offered students interested in international affairs unique opportunities to enhance their diplomatic skills in areas such as speech writing, public speaking, negotiation, dispute resolution and research. In 2017, the Program was named to honor the legacy of Leon Charney.

Annually, the Program fields and trains a delegation of student diplomats to represent the university in collegiate competitions. FAU's Leon Charney Diplomacy Program has competed in diplomatic simulations in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Indianapolis and Maastricht, Netherlands.

Diplomatic competitions are simulations of major international organizations in which schools are assigned countries and students serve as diplomats of their assigned country. Student-delegates must remain in diplomatic and country character throughout the competition, and strive to solve the myriad of problems confronted by the organization. In preparation for the competitions, students compose a portfolio that contains country information, committee assignment documents and topic backgrounds. Additionally, students draft country profiles and resolutions that are judged by conference organizers. Learn More

Reporting the Experience - Noa Hirsch

Noa Hirsch has written three reports throughout her experience with the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program at FAU.

Report 1: Expectations, thoughts, and goals upon arriving: 

During my time at the Leon Charney   diplomacy program, I hope to deepen my understanding of global politics and international relations. My interest in these topics has been raised especially after attending EMIS, a high school that focuses on Middle Eastern politics. Having had a small introduction to the Model United Nations already, I became extremely interested in continuing my MUN experience as I have learned that the simulations of real-life negotiations is one of the best tools to prepare for challenging political issues. As there are many sides to a problem, it is usually a matter of communication, public speaking, representation, seeing whether effective solutions can be found, and that compromises can be made. 

Report 2: During the Program:

I just finished my 3rd week in the diplomacy course and I can feel how much I have learned during my time in Florida. My time here is made up of university classes, individual preparation for the conference (e.g. research, or writing speeches), and enjoying South Florida as a tourist. The diplomacy course is split into two parts. The first class of the week is about the conference organization and progressing in knowing our committee's topics well from the position of our delegation in order to prepare for the NMUN conference. In the second and last class of the week, we have a diplomacy simulation in which each student represents one nation in diplomatic talks or fictional crisis situations.

Report 3: Following the Program:

Looking back, I remember how tiring some moments were, regarding the endlessness of Saturday (which was a 9-hour day) and the repetitiveness of some parts of the conference. However, I also started noticing how professionally we managed to work. My committee partner and I quickly realized that we had to work tightly together as the committee seemed chaotic at times (it was hard to keep track of approx. 70 delegations). So I ended up forming a group on behalf of Canada that would start drafting a resolution while he did a lot of networking and ‘recruited’ people to our group. He used his speaking skills to interest people in our idea and I used my guiding skills to build a group that worked amazingly together. We ended up being around 35 people working on a resolution.

Hear the Experience - from Khan Ton

We interviewed Khan Ton to gain more information about the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program to encourage students to pursue this program.

What did you gain from the whole period?
From the class: Dr. Morton is a strict and helpful mentor that wishes to see you thrive. In his class, I learned a lot about public speaking, thorough preparation for the competition, and strategies to win over people.
From fellow delegates: I had a friend group and they taught me a lot about American politics because a mid-term was going on at the time.
From the competition: I learned that people have different negotiation styles and it's important to lay out your goals to figure how to reach compromises.

read the full article about Khan’s experience click HERE

Learn more

For more information about the FAU Leon Charney Diplomacy Program and our relationship with the Charney Resolution Center, watch the video below with FAU student-diplomats and the ambassadors from the CRC and Annette LaRocco, Senior Associate Director of the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program.

Journals related to FAU Leon Charney Diplomacy Program on Charney Resolution Center.

The Competitions - “Step into the Shoes of Diplomats” in Washington DC and New York City

Each year, Florida Atlantic University participates in the National Model United Nations in New York City (Spring Semester) and Washington, D.C. (Fall Semester).

The competitions are opportunities for students to step into the shoes of diplomats from member states to debate current issues on the organization's agenda. While playing their roles as diplomats, student delegates make speeches, prepare draft resolutions, negotiate with allies and adversaries, resolve conflicts, and navigate conference rules of procedure - all in the interest of mobilizing cooperation to resolve problems that affect people all over the world. Diplomatic competitions are simulations based on collaboration and cooperation among nations and are based on working together through multilateral diplomacy. National Model United Nations is the world’s largest and most prestigious collegiate MUN program.

Charney Resolution Center Participated Students