Patterson School Students Impress UN Dignitaries

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 27, 2016) — Sixteen University of Kentucky students are spending this week mixing and networking with presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, United Nations officials and sheikhs at the 2016 Doha Forum in Qatar. These graduate students, all working on their master’s degrees at the UK Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, are visiting the Middle East as guests of the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Their all-expense-paid trip includes participating in the forum, as well as stops at government agencies, businesses, universities, cultural sites and Al Jazeera.

While the outside temperature soared to 108 degrees, debate inside the main hall became equally heated, as the political discussion shifted from Iraq, engagement in Syria, the fighting in Yemen, the plight of the Palestinians, and the dire need for United Nations Security Council reform.

UK student Randy Troyer of Wilmore, Kentucky, said, "The Doha Forum was a fantastic opportunity to hear from high level officials from all over the world who have a differing perspective than the normal rhetoric we hear at home. I will be able to take what I have learned in Qatar and apply it to my studies at Patterson as well as in my future career."

“Attending the Doha Forum allowed us to see how difficult negotiations are in the real world,” said Sarah Reynolds of Louisville, Kentucky. “While we already get a sense of this difficulty through the negotiation simulations we participate in through the Patterson School, it was interesting to see how discussions work between key players in a regional forum. The dialogue between representatives in the ‘Dialogue Instead of Conflict’ session provided each side of various conflicts with insight into the thought processes of the other side's reasons for fighting. Understanding the other side's argument is an essential part of creating a lasting solution.”

"I enjoyed hearing different strategies for establishing peace and security from representatives from NATO, the African Union, and the United Nations," said Austin Anderson of Panama City Beach, Florida. "The conference offered some truly frank discussions on the role of developing and developed nations in ending different conflicts across the world.”

“This intimate interaction is what sets the Patterson School apart,” said John Sutton of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. “Having lunch with the Prime Minister of Swaziland, learning about conflict resolution from UN Special Envoys, chatting with correspondents from Reuters and Al Jazeera. Nobody does it better.” 

Patterson School Director Carey Cavanaugh said “UK’s international affairs school occupies a unique niche that is matched by no other in the country. We take advantage of our agile size and my title (he is a former U.S. ambassador and peace mediator) to open doors and provide our students with unprecedented firsthand experience to complement their in-class learning. All of our students typically visit 10-15 corporate headquarters, government agencies, or non-governmental organizations during the course of their studies.”

The current student cohort has already traveled in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C., with stops as varied as the State Department and U.S. Institute of Peace, Boeing and MillerCoors corporate headquarters, Customs and Border Patrol at O’Hare Airport, foreign diplomatic missions, and the Burmese refugee community in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Participation in these activities is open to all Patterson School students at no additional cost.

Cavanaugh said, “Immersive, experiential activities like these make our students far more competitive for highly sought career opportunities with government and in the private sector. They bring to the job market a skill set and bundle of experience that is hard to beat.”

What’s new this academic year is that the Patterson School has been able to have groups of students travel overseas at no additional cost. In fall 2015 about half of the students visited Japan on a study program sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Following that successful experience, Cavanaugh arranged the current program directly with Qatar’s ambassador to the United States, Mohammed Jaham Al Kuwari.

“Our program has developed an international reputation of excellence and our students are impressive. I saw in Japan, and now Qatar, that they engage with leaders at any level with poise and professionalism,” Cavanaugh said. “We are proud to offer them this global exposure and to have them representing the University of Kentucky on the world stage.”

The remainder of the students’ visit will include stops at Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Education City, the American Embassy, the government committee handling the construction of stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and a tour of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas operation.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, 859-257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu