Mission & History
Our Mission
Founded in 1947 as the Pan Ethnon Society, AMIRS has transformed and changed with each passing decade, but our mission has remained the same: to spark dialogue on international affairs.
To fulfill this mission, the five branches of AMIRS and its two partner programs offer programming to undergraduate and graduate students at American University and guests from countless other organizations and institutions. As a comprehensive international relations club, AMIRS’ branches, partners, and programs span from arts and sciences to business, law, theology, and health. These different fields of study are knit together by a robust foundation in international relations.
The AMIRS community is open to all who meet its high standards of excellence and integrity. The society welcomes individuals from diverse ethnic, cultural, religious, national, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We believe that this type of diversity results in unparalleled intellectual and social energy, an energy that is critical to advancing our mission in the short and long term.
AMIRS demands that all programming, learning, research, and service be measured by high standards of integrity and excellence, and believes that each person and every level of activity should be valued on its own merits. As an organization, AMIRS commits itself to ensure that all programming is ethical and that our mentorship and training programs are built on respectful interactions among faculty and students.
Our History
The precursor to AMIRS, the Pan Ethnon Society was founded in 1947 to promote friendship and understanding among international students. In its first year, Pan Ethnon sent a delegation to Trinity College’s Model United Nations, one of the first Model United Nations (MUN) ever organized.
In the late 1950s, in response to a rise in interest in diplomacy simulations, the School of International Service founded the American University International Relations Club (AUIRC), a club solely dedicated to MUN. During this time, the AUIRC competed at dozens of different national conferences and was one of the first schools to compete at Georgetown’s National Collegiate Security Conference (NCSC). AUIRC quickly became infamous for representing the USSR, winning “Best Large Delegation” for four years in a row.
In 1962, AUIRC merged with Pan Ethnon creating “Pan Ethnon International” or PEI. Throughout the 1960s American University continued to be a Model UN juggernaut, winning dozens of delegation awards across the United States.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as today, Pan Ethnon International reigned as American University's largest and most important club. During this period, Pan Ethnon International was instrumental in bringing President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, and even Turkish Ambassador Turget Menemenciogeu to campus.
Infamously, in 1981, Pan Ethnon brought in Leo Evens, a South African emissary, to speak on the subject of Namibian Independence. This guest resulted in student protests and the arrest of Professor Gary Nigel. It was widely reported in both the Washington Post and New York Times.
In early 1987, the MUN team, a branch of Pan Ethnon International, saw continued success attending conferences at Old Dominion University, Georgetown, and The University of Pennsylvania. However, due to rising tensions between the Pan Ethnon International and the MUN Team, in October of 1987, the Office of Student Activities formally proposed that the Model UN team and PEI split. By 1989, Pan Ethnon International ceased to exist, but the MUN Team continued to regularly compete at conferences across the United States.
In the early 1990s, the MUN Team launched American University’s first successful Model United Nations Conference, AMUN. The 2001 session of AMUN would hold the title of the largest Model UN Conference in American University history until 2018 when AmeriMUNC surpassed AMUN in delegate count. Unfortunately, tragedy struck in 2002, and the Beltway Sniper Attacks forced American University to cancel AMUN.
Throughout the early 2000s, the MUN Team continued to find success at various national and international conferences. In 2008, the MUN team launched AMUN’s successor, AUMUNC, which was ultimately re-branded as AmeriMUNC.
In 2013 the School of International Service relaunched the defunct Pan Ethnon International as The American University International Relations Society (AMIRS), combining the MUN team and AmeriMUNC under an umbrella of IR programming. AMIRS also added a second educational conference, the Washington International Relations Conference, or WIRC, to its programming.
AMIRS Today
Today, AMIRS is American University’s largest student organization with over 300 members. AMIRS is composed of 5 branches, all dedicated to promoting dialogue on International issues. The AUMUN Team travels to over a dozen conferences each year and was ranked 1st in North America for the first time in 2021. AmeriMUNC hosts over 1,000 high school students and teachers annually. WIRC has helped start over 50 Model UN Teams in the DMV area and provides training to over 500 novice Model UN delegates each year. Our Ask a Diplomat and Community Programming branches carry on the legacy of PEI by hosting international relations-focused programming and bringing the organization together through community-building events and activities.