IMG_4543[1]Last week, The New School was campus host to approximately 400 undergraduate students representing over 50 countries. The students convened in New York City at the United Nations Headquarters and The New School campus to attend the 7th Annual Millennium Campus Conference, a forum in which student leaders honed their expertise in global development through cutting-edge workshops, discussions, debates, and keynote speeches from professionals in the field.

The conference is a project of the Millennium Campus Network, which strives to identify undergraduate students around the world who are most dedicated to international development work—then gives those students innovative tools and support to transform the future of global development practice. The 400 “Delegates” who attended the Millennium Campus Network’s Conference this year were picked from a pool of over 2,000 applicants.

The bulk of the conference took place at the United Nations Headquarters and centered its topics around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Julien J. Studley Graduate Program for International Affairs played several roles during the conference. Executive Dean of The New School for Public Engagement, Mary Watson, cheerfully took a “selfie” during her talk at a Welcome Social which opened the conference, and Associate Dean of Milano Nina Khrushcheva also addressed the conference attendees. SGPIA Professor Sakiko Fakuda-Parr illuminated the Sustainable Development Goals in her Keynote speech during a Social Action Plenary at the UN. Several Milano School graduate students volunteered to support the event, including Jessica Durovy and Nick Palombo. Other conference events that took place on The New School campus included a presentation on GIS Mapping in Humanitarianism by SGPIA faculty Stephen Metts and Parsons faculty Eric Brelsford; an Opportunities Fair; and working groups on five student-designed campaigns focused on Peace, Oceans, Health, Equality and Youth that were selected to receive $5,000 in order to bring the ideas to fruition.

Read more about the Millennium Campus Conference at www.mcc15.org or by following the hashtags #MCC15 and #sidekicksUNite.