MSC SCONA Brings Army War College Exercise to Undergraduate Audience
COLLEGE STATION, Feb. 21, 2011 â€" In the first-ever presentation of its type to an undergraduate collegiate audience, the U.S. Army War College will conduct its International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise Wednesday (Feb. 23) at Texas A&M University.
(Media-Newswire.com) - COLLEGE STATION, Feb. 21, 2011 – In the first-ever presentation of its type to an undergraduate collegiate audience, the U.S. Army War College will conduct its International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise Wednesday ( Feb. 23 ) at Texas A&M University.
It will be a pre-conference event before the official start of the 56th annual Memorial Student Center Student Conference on National Affairs ( MSC SCONA ), which runs from Thursday through Saturday ( Feb. 24-26 ) at Texas A&M.
SCONA is an annual opportunity for college students from around the country to come together and discuss foreign policy issues with the authorities who make that policy and other experts in the field.
Approximately 150 student delegates from 20 universities all across the U.S. and Texas are registered to attend the conference.
This year’s topic is “Cost of War, Cost of Peace: Consequences of Yesterday, America’s Vision for Tomorrow,” and the focus will be on examining how the United States can play a role in alleviating the damage caused by past conflicts in order to encourage a more peaceful future.
Student organizers say the crisis negotiation exercise, which is used to train foreign service officers and graduate students, will make the conference even more attractive for undergraduate delegates this year.
The 52 delegates selected to participate in the crisis negotiation exercise will simulate a conference, convened by the U.N. Secretary General, intended to negotiate a solution to the conflict in the South Caucasus. The delegates will be divided into seven teams, with each team representing a nation with interests in the outcome of the conflict: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia, Turkey and the United States.
According to conference organizers, this exercise gives students an additional opportunity to gain experience collaborating with other students to explore potential solutions to difficult international affairs issues.
Throughout the three-day conference, delegates will listen to and ask questions of prominent foreign affairs speakers. Several of the speaker events will be held in Rudder Theatre, which will allow more members of the campus community and the general public to attend. These speaker events are free and open to the public.
Speakers include Ambassador Ryan Crocker, dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service and former ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon. Organizers say Crocker will be able to lend insight into current events in the Middle East during his scheduled speech at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 24.
Also on Thursday, Michael Corbin, deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq, is scheduled to speak at 2:30 p.m. On Friday at 9 a.m. Lt. Gen. Paul Carlton, M.D., is scheduled to discuss his experience as the Surgeon General of the U.S. Air Force. And at 1:30 p.m. Gen. William Fraser III, commander, Air Combat Command, is scheduled to discuss his experience with wartime, contingency and humanitarian relief operations.
Following each speaker session, delegates will participate in roundtable work sessions with their respective policy teams. Organizers say these work sessions will culminate in the development of a policy proposal, which each team will present and submit for critique by a panel of policy experts. Experts will select one policy proposal for special recognition.
For more information on MSC SCONA, including this year’s program schedule, visit http://msc.tamu.edu and click on the SCONA quick link.
Contact: Raymond Strain, Director of Internal Marketing, MSC SCONA, ( 979 ) 845-1515 or Scona.marketing@gmail.com or Raye Leigh Stone, advisor, Memorial Student Center, ( 979 ) 845-1515 or stone@msc.tamu.edu.
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