Former Cambridge student elected as representative for United Nations General Assembly

President Biden announced on Monday that Tom Carnahan, who studied at Homerton College for a year during his degree, will represent the US at the 76th UNGA

Carnahan studied at Homerton College in the nineties Joshua Sukoff/UNSPLASH

by Georgia Goble

This article is 5 years old

Wednesday September 15 2021, 8:30pm

A former Cambridge student has been elected as a United States (US) representative for the 76th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

President Joe Biden announced on Monday that Tom Carnahan, who spent his year abroad studying at Cambridge in the 90s, will represent the US at the annual UN Assembly sessions along with three other representatives.

Carnahan studied International Relations at William Jewell College, spending his junior year at Homerton College Cambridge, before attending the University of Missouri School of Law.

A Missouri-based renewable energy entrepreneur, Carnahan has worked both in the private and public sector, developing wind, solar and battery storage projects in rural America, Tanzania and Zambia.

He previously appeared as an energy and public policy expert on several news shows including CNN and NPR.

His previous roles also include Assistant City Counselor, legal advisor and litigator for the City of Saint Louis Missouri and clerk in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

The 76th UNGA commenced on Tuesday (14/09) in UN Headquarters in New York, opening with an address for all 193 member states in the annual General Debate.

The sessions generally run from September to January, and are principally responsible for policy-making and addressing world issues and those faced by individual members.

Biden is expected to make his first speech as US President to the UNGA on 21st September.

Support Varsity

Varsity is the independent newspaper for the University of Cambridge, established in its current form in 1947. In order to maintain our editorial independence, our print newspaper and news website receives no funding from the University of Cambridge or its constituent Colleges.

We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead.

In spite of this situation, we are going to look at inventive ways to look at serving our readership with digital content and of course in print too!

Therefore we are asking our readers, if they wish, to make a donation from as little as £1, to help with our running costs. Many thanks, we hope you can help!