UNCG: News from the Network — September 2009

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UNCG Events: 2010 UNCG Meeting and Web Conference on Standards and Principles

UNCG meeting2010 Annual UNCG Meeting Dates Set

Save the dates! We will be meeting in North Carolina, with the University of North Carolina's Dispute Resolution Program and North Carolina State University's Natural Resources Leadership Institute co-hosting. The meeting will take place February 28 - March 2, 2010. Stayed tuned for further details as the Program Committee develops a theme and panel topics.

First UNCG Web Conference on Standards and Principles - October 13, 2009

Please join UNCG on a web conference (you can also simply participate by phone, if you prefer) on October 13, 1pm - 3pm Eastern Time. Please notify Sarah Giles if you would like to be part of the conference on this topic.

University of Washington's Jill Purdy is leading an effort to develop a set of UNCG accountability principles and discuss principles for collaborative governance practices. We would like to engage interested members in a discussion of whether or not to adopt a set of principles for UNCG. Jill has outlined existing principles for accountable organizations from 6 different organizations. She has also created an overview of the different principles that have been developed to guide a range of collaborative governance practices, as well as standards and guidelines for agencies and practitioners. You can find Jill's work on the UNCG webpage, under Member Tools .

The following questions are aimed at helping you determine whether or not adopting your own set of accountability standards would be useful:

Regarding collaborative governance principles:

Announcements from Members

Mediators Beyond Borders Seeks Endorsements for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

In December 2009, delegates from around the world will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark for the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Copenhagen will provide a critical opportunity for the world’s nations to reach a comprehensive agreement before the commitments set out in the Kyoto Protocol expire in 2012.

Mediators Beyond Borders (MBB) is the only dispute resolution organization presently approved to be an Observer at the Copenhagen meeting, and is urging all delegates to include a mediation provision in the climate change treaty. Currently, the Kyoto Protocol includes negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, and judicial options, but not mediation.

MBB is therefore seeking individual and organizational endorsements for a proposal that seeks to remedy the omission of mediation from article 14 of the Kyoto Protocol that was adopted in 1997 and implemented in 2001 and 2005.

Here is the language MBB is proposing, which will be followed by a more detailed description of the process and a method for selecting mediators:

1. "(A) Reaffirming the principles set forth in Chapter IV, Articles 33-38 of the UN Charter governing the peaceful settlement of disputes, the parties agree that the parties to any dispute resulting from the interpretation or implementation of this treaty “shall first seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice.”

(B) In the event that efforts to negotiate a solution are unsuccessful, parties are encouraged to use mediation to settle their disputes at all stages, including before, during and after conciliation, arbitration, and actions before the International Court of Justice.

(C.) Mediation shall be conducted in accordance with procedures to be adopted by the Conference of the Parties as soon as practicable, in an annex on mediation.”

If you agree that mediation should be included in the agreement and would like to endorse the MBB proposed language as an individual and/or as an ADR organization, please email your name, title, organizational affiliation, city, state, and country to Ken Cloke and Elaine Hallmark as soon as possible. Contact either Ken or Elaine for more information.

William D. Ruckelshaus Center Director Position Open

The William D. Ruckelshaus Center is looking for a dynamic and innovative leader to serve as Director. The Center is the joint effort of the University of Washington and Washington State University and was developed, under the leadership of William Ruckelshaus in response to requests from community leaders to assist in developing collaborative approaches for policy development and multi-party dispute resolution. The Center is dedicated to assisting public, tribal, private, non-profit and other community leaders in their efforts to build consensus and resolve conflicts around difficult public policy issues.

The Director position is a non-tenured faculty position on a 12 month, full-time basis. The position may be located in Pullman, Olympia, or Seattle, negotiable at the time of offer. Start date is negotiable, but anticipated for Spring 2010. The WSU Extension director is leading the search so if anyone wants to nominate someone for consideration they can forward the name to Dr. Fox. Associate Dean Fox will send the candidate a letter of invitation to apply. Read the entire position announcement.

University of Oregon's Cheyney Ryan Peace and Conflict Studies Essay Contest

The University of Oregon's Masters Program in Conflict and Dispute Resolutions is announcing the inaugural Cheyney Ryan Peace and Conflict Studies Essay Contest, sponsored by the Program. This is an annual international writing competition open to all full-time undergraduate students. Three $500 prizes will be awarded and the three winning entries will be published on the premier conflict resolution web site, Mediate.com. Submission deadline is Dec. 15th, 2009, 9:00 a.m. Pacific time. Winning submissions will be announced March 1st, 2010. Full submission guidelines and contest rules are available on the Program's site. Contact Tim Hicks for more information.
This year's essay topic is:

"We know that psychological and social well-being are tied in significant ways to our sense of belonging, and that a key part of our identity is based on the groups to which we belong —- our family, our community, our nation, our ethnic group, etc. We also see how our national, ethnic, or religious identities can be the source of much destructive conflict.
How can we reconcile this dilemma? How do we encourage the positive elements of group identity and, at the same time, avoid the perils of identity affiliations?"

University of Arizona Looks for Speakers for "Collaborative Natural Resource Management" Series

Throughout the Spring 2010 semester, the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment (SNRE) in cooperation with the School of Government and Public Policy, the School of Anthropology, and the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, will host a speaker series and associated graduate seminar titled “Collaborative Natural Resource Management.” The goal is to provide students and faculty with opportunities to interact with social science scholars in the field of collaborative natural resources management (including cross sector coordination and networks, collaborative problem solving, conflict management and public engagement) and to increase the University’s capacity to deliver expertise in this important field of Environmental Science, Engineering and Policy.
To make this series a success, the UA is seeking help in identifying potential speakers that have superior research accomplishments and promise in Collaborative Natural Resource Management and are inspiring and provocative public speakers. They hope to invite a set of scholars who together represent a diversity of disciplines, theoretical approaches and backgrounds. Please reply directly to Kirk Emerson by September 21, 2009.  They are limited to five outside speakers, so they want to be very selective in identifying outstanding candidates who will show the importance and the promise of collaboration as a scholarly discipline and an essential tool in managing natural resources. If you know a scholar that meets these criteria, please provide Kirk with a nomination that includes 1) statement of qualifications, preferably including their CV, and 2) nominee contact information; preferably e-mail address and personal website.

New Member: University of California Hastings College of Law Center for Negotiaton and Dispute Resolution UC Hastings Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

UNCG would like to welcome its newest member, the University of California Hastings College of Law’s Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution!  CNDR was established six years ago and is currently under the direction of Grande Lum.

The Center teaches law students in ADR and negotiation classes and conducts training for state agencies, such as the California Public Utilities Commission, on facilitation, negotiation, and mediation.  Currently, faculty at the Center focus their research on topics such as emotion / lie detection and negotiator style. 

As part of the University of California system, the Center has recently created a consortium with the UC San Francisco Medical School.  The Consortium operates joint degree programs, conferences, and research with faculty at both institutions.  “This was a natural partnership for us,” Lum explains, “since in our Center, we have a psychology bent to our ADR work.”  

Within Hastings, the Center collaborates with the Center for State and Local Government Law on projects.  In 2008, the Centers jointly held a Toward Collaborative Governance symposium, bringing scholars and practitioners of civic engagement and alternative dispute resolution together to share theory, research and methodologies.

Following that conference, says Lum, the Center has grown increasingly interested in the field of collaborative governance and building its programs in that area. Lum hopes that UNCG will provide help in developing curriculum around collaborative governance and in making it appealing to students.  The key area, according to Lum, where he sees the Network can assist the Center is in helping to establish Hastings as a destination to be a source for doing collaborative governance processes.  

For more information about Hasting’s Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution or their Toward Collaborative Governance conference, contact Grande Lum.

Thoughts from the Field: Deliberative Democracy and Constituent Town Hall Meetings

Questions from audience

Following this summer's series of town hall-style meetings held by congressional representatives in their home districts, many in the field of collaborative governance have offered their thoughts, ideas, and even advice for leaders all over the country. The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation is compiling a collection of these responses from the deliberative democracy field, but we wanted to highlight two responses from UNCG member Margin Carcasson (Colorado State University's Center for Public Deliberation). Martin shared his thoughts, along with Peter Levine of Tufts University, on a recent podcast from NPR/WHYY's "Radio Times" and posted some of his suggested tips for leaders dealing with emotionally-charged meetings with constituents on the NCDD blog.

Listen to Martin and Peter's podcast or read Martin's post.

Session Summaries from the No Better Time Conference TDI 2009 Conference

 

This conference was organized jointly by The Democracy Imperative and the Deliberative Democracy Consortium on a wing, a prayer, and a shoestring. We felt we had to pull it off – despite the time we knew it would take, despite the drain on our organizations, despite the economy – because there does indeed seem to be “No Better Time” to about the challenges and opportunities facing our democracy. The strong response we have received to this conference, in the form of over-capacity registrations and the richness of the proposed learning exchanges, confirms our decision to go forward.

Read summaries from the No Better Time sessions.

New Tools for Members

Toolbox graphic

Over the summer, PCI has been working to create some new tools for UNCG members, including new case studies and maps of federal natural resource agency regions. Our PCI summer intern, Megan Messmer, a senior at Linnfield College in Oregon, created a set of maps of the regions in 13 different federal natural resource agencies.  These maps are available exclusively to UNCG members via the PCI website.  Please contact Sarah Giles  for log-in information to view the maps.  Megan is also working on adding more case studies on energy efficiency and air quality projects to the PCI collection. This fall, we'll be asking members to provide information on their centers so we can update our listings and share what our members have to offer. Read PCI's latest case study "Achieving Building Code Energy Efficiencies in Florida."

We have also added another video to the "Legislators as Conveners" series. The newest, "Learning to Convene in San Antonio," is a video of Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte addressing the University Network for Collaborative Governance at the Fall 2008 meeting in Austin, Texas. Senator Van de Putte connects the leadership experiences she's had to the convening skills she's learned from the University of Texas's Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution's Fellows Program.

Join UNCG / PCI on the Web!

We are working on creating spaces on the web for UNCG members to interact, share, and network with one another. You can now find PCI on Facebook, follow our feed on Twitter, watch our videos on YouTube, and join the UNCG group on LinkedIn.


 

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