ADVANCING UNITED NATION GOALS
The United Nations (UN) Academic Impact Program and Millennium Campus Network (MCN), programs designed to align institutions with efforts to support and expand the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as create student leaders, have joined forces to create the Millennium Fellowship program to work on semester-long projects.
The UN adopted seventeen SDGs in 2015 to begin its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The mission of these goals is to work globally to end poverty, inequality and climate change. To support the incentive, the Millennium Fellowship was formed.
The UN Academic Impact Program is designed to get institutions to align and expand the UN Sustainable Development Goals. By becoming a member of this program, students may participate and connect with others worldwide.
“A membership to this program allows participating institutions to connect with other institutions around the world to exchange ideas on how to do research and action-based work to advance the SDGs in different communities,” said Antonella Regueiro, professor and UN Millennium Fellowship coordinator.
The Millennium Campus Network is a Boston-based, global non-profit training the next generation of social impact leaders. The MCN trains a new generation of leaders on university campuses around the world.
“In regards to the UN Fellowship program, the MCN trains two campus directors to guide the UN Millennium Fellows throughout their semester-long projects,” said Regueiro. “At the end of their training, the students get a certification from MCN.”
In 2018, Lynn was selected as one of 30 global host institutions for this program. Eight students were selected last year to become a part of the program to support the SDGs.
Alberto Gomez and Ivar Guerrero worked on organizing socially-conscious campus leaders. Raymond Francois, Daniel Kaleta and Paul Ristuccia worked on banning plastic straws. Finally, Nadeem Abu Hijleh, Faith Thomas and Xiara Del Valle worked to support education in Rwanda.
“Being a part of the Millennium Fellowship program was truly one of the few experiences I can look back at to see its direct impact on the causes I was passionate in alleviating,” said Del Valle. “The MCN allowed me to look inwards for personal development so that I could better acknowledge and tackle the discrepancies in our world. The program gives you every tool and resource to make a change that’s everlasting, going beyond anything you could have ever imagined.”
To apply, students must visit the UN Millennium Fellowship website by May 20. After completing two rounds of selections, potential candidates will be chosen with particular consideration given to their planned project in relation to one of the seventeen SDGs.
Those accepted into the program will be grouped by project. Depending on the number of students selected, the groupings will take place on the basis of the chosen SDGs. The students will be guided by the Social Impact Lab’s Director Jerry Hildebrand, the student campus directors as well as Regueiro.
To apply, visit millenniumfellows.org.
