[199]SOCIETY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS PREPARES FOR MODEL U.N.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 12, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081, gklogue@mtsu.edu

SOCIETY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS PREPARES FOR MODEL U.N.
Dynamic MTSU Student Group Helps People at Home and Abroad

(MURFREESBORO) - The Society for International Affairs (SIA) will send its latest Model United Nations team to the Southeast Regional conference in Atlanta Nov. 20-22 with the attendees representing United Arab Emirates. However, the organization is extending its mission and its methods. SIA will continue to learn about people in other parts of the world not only by portraying them, but also by assisting them. “The Society for International Affairs is unique in that our primary focus is on service and teaching students at this point in their lives to really value a service ethic,” says Dr. Karen Petersen, assistant professor of political science and faculty adviser to SIA. Many of the organization’s members learn about global poverty and inequality in class from Petersen and other MTSU professors and yearn to do something to help. For example, last spring, SIA made loans to a farmer in Tajikistan, a group of Cambodian women subsistence farmers, and a small Peruvian grocery store. All of those loans are being repaid gradually. When one SIA member, Rachel Peck of Rockvale, announced that she would be traveling to Uganda, the group provided her with more than $100 worth of school supplies to give to children there. Here at home, SIA gave $180 to the American Red Cross to help tornado victims, but the organization plans to use its fundraising efforts to help fellow MTSU students, as well. “What we would like to do ideally is to be able to provide financial assistance in emergency situations for international students, particularly students who have no family support, who are here in Murfreesboro, alone oftentimes, without the infrastructure that typical students take for granted,” says Petersen. She says small grants of $50 to $100 for these emergency expenses can help international students can help them over the rough spots so they can stay in college and concentrate on their studies. Frequently, after graduation, they return to war-torn or impoverished countries to put what they learned at MTSU to use in solving those nations’ problems. Petersen finds that young people are far less likely to hesitate when asked to get involved with individuals from other cultures. “I think that college students are certainly less likely to carry that post-9/11 baggage or post-Communist baggage … and are much more open to reaching out to others,” Petersen observes, noting that college students also have more opportunities to interact with people from other cultures in a campus environment.
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SIA also is helping to form an MTSU chapter of the international service club for young adults known as ROTARACT. Sponsored by the University Honors College, the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of Political Science and the Murfreesboro Breakfast Rotary, ROTARACT strives to promote international understanding through friendship and service. The program is for adults aged 18 to 30, and each chapter carries out at least one community service project and one international service project per year. During the fall semester, SIA meets from 3-4 p.m. on Mondays in Room 208 of Peck Hall. For more information about how you can help or to join SIA, go to the Web site at www.mtsu.edu/~sia or contact Petersen at 615-494-8662 or kpeterse@mtsu.edu.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For photos of the Society of International Affairs in action and of one of its members, Rachel Peck, in Uganda, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.