McKendree University to Honor Retiring Model United Nations Advisor
Reception for Dr. Jim Dohle of CBC
Lebanon, Ill. — McKendree University finds it important to honor those that have contributed
greatly to the many organizations present on campus. As McKendree’s Model United Nations
program observes its 41st year, a reception on April 9 at 6 p.m. will celebrate the contributions of one of
its longest serving advisors.
Dr. Jim Dohle, a Model U.N. advisor for Christian Brothers College in St. Louis, is
retiring. A resident of St. Louis, he has served as an advisor for the university’s
Model U.N. program since the very first conference in 1972, when he was a faculty
member at St. Teresa’s Academy.
Since that first conference, Dohle and fellow inaugural member Dr. James Kerr of Triad
High School in Troy have been the cornerstones of the program. Both men have contributed
to both process issues about how the program should run and also substance issues
about what topics should be included in the conference.
Dr. Brian Frederking, professor of political science at McKendree, is a strong advocate
of the role the high school advisors play in the program. “We rely heavily on our
high school advisors for advice about running the program, and Dr. Dohle has been
an invaluable contributor,” he said.
McKendree students who help in running the conference for the high school students
share a similar view. Ben Pollard, a senior history and international relations major
who is the Model U.N. coordinator, was quick to highlight the importance of Dohle’s
role. “Dr. Dohle has been such an important part of McKendree Model United Nations,”
he said. “He understands that it is a great educational tool for students and always
makes sure that learning is the goal. His helpful insight into topics for each session,
and suggestions over the years, have helped shape and better the McKendree Model U.N.
Program.”
It is clear that Dr. Dohle’s valuable contributions will be greatly missed. Looking
back on the years that he served the program, one becomes aware of how much the program
has grown and developed under his tutelage.
Over the 40 years that McKendree has hosted Model U.N., the program has grown to now
having 16 participating high schools with over 300 students attending. Dohle described
the program’s growth as “truly amazing.” The high number of attendees has allowed
the Model U.N. to recently implement the use of the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts
in the conference. This has enabled a General Assembly to be used as a plenary session.
“The first two days of the conference everyone is in their committees,” Frederking
explained. “During the third day we can put many students in the Hett, and the GA
plenary session can then consider resolutions passed by the committees. It is a tremendous
opportunity for high school students to speak in front of a large audience in a formal
setting.”
Dohle described the program upon its inception as being very different to what is
seen presently. “In its inception we had sessions through Saturday morning and students
were offered the opportunity to sleep over in the dorms,” he said. “General Assembly
sessions were held in the old Bearcat Gym, something left over from World War II.
Sessions were intense and volatile. This was during the Yom Kippur of 1973. Arab
[delegation] nations walked out. It was great fun.”
The program has not only furthered the education of high school students but also
enabled some of McKendree’s more politically engaged students to further their skills
in diplomacy. As of 2005, McKendree’s Model U.N. began developing a program to feature
in collegiate conferences, and it has achieved high levels of success. The program
has won five overall delegation awards, and students have won individual delegate
awards 18 times.
Pollard pointed to this new feature of the school’s Model U.N. as helping to develop
the current high school event that McKendree hosts each year. “With the collegiate
trips that McKendree started taking only a few years ago, we have been able to incorporate
new programs like an experimental Security Council, historical Security Council, and
an International Press Delegation.”
With the implementation of these new programs and a wave of successful Security Generals,
Pollard has seen a remarkable increase in participation from schools and its students.
Frederking shares similar views, stating that with the success of the Model U.N.,
the program plays an important role in public relations with the surrounding high
schools and an excellent recruiting tool for the university in enrolling future brilliant
Bearcats.
Dr. Jim Dohle will have a send-off at the opening session of the spring Model U.N.
conference at McKendree University on Tuesday, April 9 at 6 p.m. at the Hett, to thank
him for his valuable contribution. Other retired veterans of McKendree’s Model U.N.
program are invited to attend the session.
-McK-
