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UN Association-USA: A Little Known History of Advocacy and Action.

The School of Diplomacy and International Relations proudly announces the publishing of UN Association-USA: A Little Known History of Advocacy and Action. Beginning with efforts in support of the creation of the United Nations—and covering the decades-long campaign to promote the UN to the US public, the role of Eleanor Roosevelt, the decline of popular support, Track II diplomacy with Iran and the Soviet Union, and much more—author James Wurst draws on a wealth of archival material and personal interviews to tell an honest, and long overdue, story of the UNA-USA’s persistence, problems, and achievements. Published by highly respected Lynne Rienner Publishers, the School of Diplomacy served as host to this independent book project on the history of UNA-USA and serves as the institutional home for the archives of the United Nations Association of the U.S.A. (UNA-USA). Diplomacy student interns supported the project by completing research, writing background material for the lead authors and advisory panel, and assisting with editing as well as interview documentation.

The School will celebrate the publication with a book talk featuring the author and an exhibit of archival material on Thursday, September 29 at 6:30 p.m. on its South Orange campus in the University Center, Chancellor’s Suite. All are welcome.

Lead author Jim Wurst is well-known among UN journalists as an analyst specializing in international security issues. Based at the United Nations since 1987, Jim has been a reporter for the National Journal Group (UN Wire and the Global Security Newswire), Inter Press Service, The InterDependent, and LGMA.TV. He has also contributed to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and Arms Control Today. He is the former Editor of Disarmament Times (New York) and Disarmament Campaigns (The Hague). He has written on nuclear weapons, land mines, the arms trade, climate change, financing for development, peacekeeping, UN reform and international law, and he has reported from Europe, Southern Africa and Mexico. His work has been published in anthologies, including A Global Agenda: Issues Before the United Nations 2010-2011, published by the UNA-USA. Jim has held numerous positions in the United Nations Correspondents’ Association (UNCA), including President (2005).

Lead editor Dulcie Leimbach is the founder of PassBlue, a digital publication reporting on the United Nations that is a project of the Ralph Bunche Institute of International Studies at the City University of New York. She is a Bunche Institute fellow. Previously, she was the publications director of UNA-USA, and before that an editor for more than 20 years at the New York Times.

Former UNA-USA President and CEO, A. Edward Elmendorf, initiated the project and is directing it. Previously employed at the US Mission to the UN, the UN Secretariat, and the World Bank, he is co-author of Better Health in Africa (World Bank, 1994), and has served as a national and local UNA-USA volunteer leader.

“UNA-USA and the UN Foundation strongly support the project. The project has also been endorsed by UNA-USA chapter leaders from around the country. The project is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as well as individual supporters. An advisory panel comprised of notable scholars and UNA leaders and experts reviewed the text. Advisory panel members include Fred Eckhard, Toby Gati, Warren Hoge, Jeff Laurenti, William McDonough, Karen Mulhauser, Jim Olson, Thomas Pickering, Jonathan Roberts, Steve Schlesinger, Gillian Sorensen, William vanden Heuvel, and Christopher Whatley.”

This unique research host opportunity comes to the School of Diplomacy as a direct result of the School’s alliance with the United Nations Association of the USA and United Nations Foundation. Learn more about the School of Diplomacy’s relationship with UNA-USA, and how this relationship benefits students, the School and the University.

For more information on and to order your copy of the UN Association-USA: A Little Known History of Advocacy and Action, visit: https://www.rienner.com/title/The_UN_Association_USA_A_Little_Known_History_of_Advocacy_and_Action.

To RSVP to the book launch or for more information about the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, contact Elizabeth Halpin, Associate Dean of External Affairs, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, at (973) 275-2560 or Elizabeth.halpin@shu.edu

-Elizabeth Halpin

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