By Nedra Chandler
The Wallace Stegner Center’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) Program is currently accepting applications for our 2022 Collaboration Certificate Course. The course will be delivered virtually via highly interactive and engaging sessions that emphasize peer-to-peer learning and networking.
The application is open through April 19, 2022; we anticipate selecting and notifying participants by May 6, 2022.
About the course
The 7-session Collaboration Certificate Course (formerly the “Effective Natural Resources Collaboration Course”) teaches mid- and upper-level professionals working on environmental, natural resource, and public policy issues the “art and science” of collaborative problem-solving through lectures, case studies, peer-to-peer sharing, discussion, and simulation exercises. Participants are encouraged to put the concepts and skills learned through the course into action in a real-life setting by assessing readiness for and designing a collaboration Capstone Project.
Course participants will acquire:
- Awareness and skills to help them effectively harness the co-creative potential of conflict and participate in multi-party collaborative processes;
- Techniques that will help them identify opportunities for collaborative problem-solving, as well as skills for convening, facilitating, and sustaining collaborative efforts; and
- Experience assessing and designing a collaboration effort relevant to the participant’s own work, with the mentorship and guidance of instructors and peer-to-peer support.
For course dates and additional information, see the course flyer.
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Testimonials from past participants
“This EDR course on environment and natural resource collaboration provided me with valuable tools that have helped me expand my professional skillset around negotiation, collaboration, and facilitation. Additionally, I appreciated how the course helped me connect those skillsets to what I value in my personal life and understand how these concepts are as much a part of who I am as they are things that I do.” Elisha Hornung, U.S. Forest Service
“As someone who spent many years in school, I can say that the EDR Program course is one of the best classes I have ever taken! I was interested in continuing my skill-building through this professional training and was blown away by how engaging and applicable the materials were. I did not expect to develop such strong partnerships with my peers via remote learning, and Danya and Nedra are so committed and passionate that it’s impossible not to dive right in! Thank you for this opportunity!” Dr. Evelyn Pickering, Post-Doctoral Researcher (University of Arizona) on an NSF-Funded project on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation
“[The course taught me that] conflict just is, not really this giant monster I had been trying to avoid – instead it can be an opportunity to enact meaningful change.” Jordan Katcher, Utah Community Development Office
“One crucial skill I got to practice during this course was learning how to be truly present and attentive; listening carefully and being inquisitive and empathetic regarding the interests and viewpoints of others.” Keith Lawrence, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
“This is a lifestyle change for me! From now on I will be conducting situation assessments/readiness checks before convening major projects or any collaborative process.” Laura Bolyard, National Park Service
“I wanted to send a heartfelt thank you for the wonderful space of learning you have held and made for us over the past months. It has been phenomenal what this class has taught me. Really and truly, for just one example, I will be taking positions vs. interests with me for the rest of my life, as I get ready to do some bigger things out in the world of waste management. I highly recommend this course to anyone who has access to it. It will make YOU and the world a more peaceful place.” Nivedita R. Biyani, PhD Student – Civil, Environmental & Sustainable Engineering
“Learning facilitative practices and philosophy in the EDR Course has helped me immensely. Focusing on asking good questions and remembering that most people just want to be heard has been a revolutionary way to approach navigating conversations with people I love who process and communicate so differently than I do.” Cassidy Jones, National Parks Conservation Association
“I was leery about taking this course virtual on Zoom, but I can attest that Danya and Nedra drive the course through this technological platform with skill, expertise, and humor. These are hands-down the most well run, efficient, and engaging Zoom meetings that I have attended – anywhere. I am excited about the possibility for others to now participate in this class (virtually), where travel and lodging costs would have been cost-prohibitive before the pandemic.” M’Leah Woodard, Attorney, U.S. Forest Service
“[I learned that] situation assessments are a key action before and during multiparty collaboration. This course really got me thinking and using well researched materials, studies, and applied theories while connecting with a great cohort of co-learners who’ve given themselves permission to keep learning.” Laura Briefer, Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities
Questions? Contact nedra.chandler@law.utah.edu
Nedra Chandler is the Associate Director of the Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) Program at the Wallace Stegner Center, S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah.