CSB Students Travel to Global Conference for Women in United Arab Emirates

02/24/2006

The College of Saint Benedict will send a 13-person international delegation to the Women as Global Leaders Conference March 10-15 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The delegation includes Rita Knuesel, CSB/SJU academic dean and associate provost; Mary Geller, vice president for CSB student development; Mary Farrell Bednarowski, a member of CSB’s Board of Trustees; and 10 CSB students, representing four countries. They include (listed alphabetically):

• Bibi Abdalla, a first-year political science major from St. Paul, Minn.;
• Alina Balonuskova, a junior individualized major in Spanish from Riga, Latvia;
• An Doan, a junior liberal studies/international studies major from Ha Noi, Vietnam;
• Rachel Dougherty, a junior political science major from International Falls, Minn.;
• Mai Moua, a first-year psychology major from St. Paul, Minn.;
• Jennifer Northup, a junior theater major from Bend, Ore.;
• Kristen Nowak, a senior communication and Spanish major from Dayton, Minn.;
• Vanja Paunic, a junior computer science major from Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina;
• Elizabeth Super, a sophomore political science major from St. Paul, Minn.;
• Molly Weyandt, a junior management major from Lake Elmo, Minn.

The conference allows young women leaders from around the world to gather, meet important international leaders, establish partnerships and gain insight into the dynamic changes underway around the globe. This year’s theme, “Communities in Transition,” focuses attention on the ways women can act in leadership roles at the grassroots level to effect change on local, regional or even global scales.

Delegates from 69 countries are expected to attend the conference, which is hosted by Zayed University. Last year, the conference was attended by 1,000 students, educators and leadership professionals from 40 countries, including a four-person delegation from CSB.

Among the women scheduled to speak at the conference include Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan; Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights; Cherie Booth, wife of United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair and a noted British attorney and human rights advocate; Her Excellence Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi, UAE minister of economy and planning; Pia Beckmann, mayor of Wurzburg, Germany; and Barbara Bodine, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen (1997-2001) and a senior fellow at The Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

“We may be one of the larger student delegations from the United States,” said Geller, who attended the conference last year. A total of 37 CSB students applied to attend the conference.

“These (10) students in particular were able to articulate in writing why they were interested in attending this conference, and what they would do back on campus with the information they gathered,” Geller said.

Travel and nominal registration fees will be covered by CSB (housing and most meals are included in the registration). The students will pay for any additional food or miscellaneous expenses. The registration fee is nominal because Zayed University heavily subsidizes the conference so that it is affordable.

“Zayed University is highly generous in its hospitality and in all that they provide conference delegates. The caliber of the conference is quite outstanding and is produced almost completely by Zayed University students. I hope our students are inspired and motivated not only by the conference speakers but by the commitment and dedication of the Zayed student delegation,” Geller said.