Published 07/02/2025 - American University’s Model United Nations (AUMUN) team has topped the Best Delegate North American College Model UN Final Rankings for the fourth year in a row, making history as the first team to achieve a four-peat.

Led by SIS professor Jeff Bachman, this year’s AUMUN team was composed of 59 students from across the AU community. Students involved in Model UN attend conferences throughout the year in which they are immersed in an academic United Nations simulation that challenges them to confront real-world issues.

Bachman said watching the students achieve record-breaking success over the past four years has been “incredibly inspiring and rewarding.”

“I have seen the team members grow and evolve as young people who are dedicated to making a positive impact on the world, and I have seen the composition of the team change as students move on, all while the team’s ambitions and drive stay the same year after year,” Bachman said.

On campus, AUMUN is a highly competitive student group to join. Bachman estimates that between 150-200 students try out each year, though roughly only 15 new students are added to the team. Students on the team are expected to participate in at least one conference per semester and attend weekly practices on campus.

This interest is due in part to the team experiencing a dramatic rise in the Best Delegate rankings over the past 11 years. After notching a spot in the top-50 teams in the 2014-2015 season, the team swiftly rose in the rankings and achieved its first top-5 achievement in the 2018-2019 season. And it’s been all good news from there. This season, AUMUN bested teams from hundreds of universities, including Georgetown University, Florida International University, Claremont McKenna College, and Boston University to earn the number one ranking for the fourth year in a row.

“This historic ranking shows that AU Model UN is experiencing a renaissance and is indicative of the hard work put in by years of leadership and team members,” said Zamaan Qureshi, SIS/BA ’24, who served as head delegate during the 2022-2023 academic year. “I’m incredibly proud of the leadership that made this ranking possible, and we also have to acknowledge the leadership of the students proceeding this historic ranking that put in place the building blocks that created the foundation for this ranking.”

Over the course of the competition season, students travel around the globe for conferences that put their public speaking and research skills to the test. At each conference, students play the role of delegates from different countries and work to confront real world problems by considering the perspectives and policies of their assigned nations.

SIS dean Shannon Hader credited the team’s dedication and drive as factors that have propelled the team to the top of the rankings year after year.

“Our AUMUN students are not shy about commitment, excellence, and hard work—that’s what it’s taken consistently over time to earn this incredible achievement,” Hader said. “This unprecedented ‘four-peat’ success also demonstrates the community spirit of AU and SIS: paying-it-forward to future teams through mentorship and practice; fostering the passion of inquiry and dialogue for innovative solutions; investing in equity of opportunity to participate through alumni donations to reduce the financial strain of travel. Our AUMUN graduates bring outstanding skills for research, collaboration, and diplomacy to their future careers. I couldn’t be more proud!”

While traveling to conferences together throughout the academic year, members of AU’s Model UN team form a strong bond. Building friendships and community with students from across AU and from competitor universities was a highlight for Lizzie Williamson, SIS/BA ’23, who served as AUMUN’s head delegate during the 2021-2022 academic year. Williamson said participating in AUMUN provided her with “lifelong friendships” and gave her clarity on her career path.

“Competing with AU Model UN was one of the ways I discovered my passion for environmental policy, where I was able to participate in committees simulating some of the biggest voices in that field like United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) or the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),” Williamson said. “I still reference policy and finance solutions I learned about for those committees, like debt-for-nature swaps or carbon credits, in my day-to-day work in conservation economics.”

Reflecting on the team’s success this past year, 2024-2025 Head Delegate Dhruv Lingala, SPA/BA ’26, said that this year’s history-making ranking stands as a “testament to each member’s dedication to not only improve their own competitive skills but also each other’s.”

“There’s a reason no school has accomplished this before: it’s incredibly difficult,” Lingala said. “From competing against top schools who place targets on our backs to dealing with team internal dynamics, the ranking speaks to the determination of the team to perform their best at every conference, no matter what obstacles may be in their way.”

Learn more about how you can support AUMUN’s future competition travels.