University of Pittsburgh Sends 10 Student Delegates to 2012 One Young World Summit in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH—Ten University of Pittsburgh undergraduate and graduate students are serving as delegates to this week’s One Young World Summit, which is expected to bring 1,500 young people from 196 countries to Downtown Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center tomorrow through Oct. 22.

Several of the conference’s breakout sessions will be held in the University’s Nationality Rooms on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 20. Delegates will attend sessions from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the African, English, French, Indian, Japanese, Italian, Norwegian, Russian, Swiss, Turkish, Welsh, and Yugoslav Nationality Rooms. Topics of those sessions range from “Creating High Fashion Through Social Good—Recycling & Resettling” and “Unintended Consequences of Aid,” to “Sports and Society,” taught by nationally renowned sports historian Rob Ruck, a senior lecturer in Pitt’s Department of History.

Among the summit’s Counsellors, who are experienced experts in their respective fields, is Pitt alumnus and trustee William E. Strickland Jr. (A&S ’70), president and chief executive officer of Manchester Bidwell Corporation as well as the recipient of the 2011 Goi Peace Award from the Goi Peace Foundation in Japan and, in 1996, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” awardee. In addition, Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General and a recipient of an honorary doctorate in public and international affairs from Pitt in 2003, will address the summit on Sunday, Oct. 21.

Using the Nationality Rooms for breakout sessions was part of Pittsburgh’s successful bid to host the conference this year. The competition among major world cities to hold One Young World’s third annual summit was intense; the summit attracts 18-to-30-year-olds from more countries than any other youth-dominated event except for the Olympics. Conference delegates debate and formulate solutions for pressing issues the world faces in such areas as hunger, sustainable development, human rights, education, and leadership and governance. After the conference, newly designated One Young World Ambassadors work on their own One Young World projects or support those already in existence.

The Pitt students who are attending this week’s summit are natives of Denmark, Jordan, Libya, Thailand, the United States, and Uruguay. A list giving their names, schools, and native countries follows. 

• Osama Yousef Alshogran, a third-year graduate student in the School of Pharmacy; Jordan.
• Pattarapa Boon-Im, a second-year graduate student in the Swanson School of Engineering; Thailand.
• David Coogan, a second-year student in the School of Law and a former U.S. Marine; United States.
• David Givens, a third-year graduate student in religious studies, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and president of Pitt’s Graduate and Professional Student Assembly; United States.
• Wasi Mohamed, an undergraduate triple-majoring in neuroscience, philosophy, and the history and philosophy of science in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and president of the Resident Student Association; United States. 
• Mumen Hussein Ramadan, a graduate student in the Swanson School of Engineering; Libya. 
• Zoe Samudzi, a junior majoring in political science in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and a member of the undergraduate Student Government Board; Zimbabwe.
• Florencia Nin Vaeza, a graduate student in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business; Uruguay. 
• Ruben Sindahl, a graduate student in the School of Law; Denmark.
• Khalil Mohd Yousef, a doctoral student in the School of Nursing; Jordan.

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10/17/12/mab/cjhm