United Nations University Visited the City College of New York
Professor Tshilidzi Darwala, the new Rector of the United Nation University from South Africa, and now Under-Secretary General of UN, and Dr. Kaveh Madani the Director of the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) and Research Professor at CUNY-CREST Institute, visited the City College of New York on Tuesday April 18, 2023. The UN team met with a delegation from City College of New York, including Dr. Vincent Boudreau, the President, Dr. Tony Liss, the Provost, Ms. Dee Dee Mozeleski, Vice President of the Office of Institutional Advancement and Communications, Dr. Andrew Rich, Dean of Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi, Director CUNY-CREST Institute, and Dr. Shakila Merchant, Deputy Director, CUNY-CREST Institute.
The goal of the meeting was to discuss potential collaboration between UN University, and CCNY. Opportunities to develop joint educational partnership programs, including, but not limited to, joint degree, certificate programs, workshops, engagement of UN professionals with CCNY, and joint collaborative research and climate adaptation activities in UN priority areas were among topics of discussion.
Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, UNU’s mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare through collaborative research and education. The United Nation University is a “think tank” which provides policy relevant research and capacity development toward advancing the goals and principles of the United Nations. It is a global network of research institutes across five of the seven continents, each institute focuses on one particular area issues/challenges faced by the UN and its member states. Some of these institutes offer postgraduate training and also degree programs. UN University is a knowledge-broker which bridges the gap between the UN and institution of higher education. As such the UNU has been granted full academic freedom by their charter. Rector of the UNU has the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the UNH and his participation in the UN System Chief Executives Board facilitates dialogue with the Secretary-General and the Executive Heads of the UN System.
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