Theresa Jensen joined the Stegner Center’s Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) Program in July 2017 as a Senior Mediator and Associate Director. Theresa has been a dispute resolution professional in Oregon for over three decades, with expertise in building consensus among diverse parties in complex natural resource, environmental, and public policy disputes. She has helped resolve BLM timber, grazing and road access disputes, and helped state and local agencies address various environmental conflicts. In addition to mediating mature disputes, her work has also encompassed the prevention side of conflict resolution, including stakeholder engagement, relationship building, skills training, and collaboration coaching and support.
“We are thrilled to have Theresa Jensen join the EDR Program,” said Danya Rumore, the Director of the EDR Program. “Her decades of experience as a public sector mediator and her passion for collaborative problem solving and fostering productive dialogue make her a valuable addition to our team.”
In reflecting on her decision to join the Stegner Center EDR Program, Theresa said, “Being a sole practitioner in the dispute resolution field for three decades has surely been rewarding, but I was seeking to take my skills to a new level, to have greater impact in these divisive times, and what I saw in the EDR Program at the Wallace Stegner Center was indeed calling to me. I saw bright, committed professionals who shared my enthusiasm for spreading the word about the value of working together cooperatively to resolve some of the toughest natural resource and environmental issues our world is facing.”
Since joining the Stegner Center, Theresa has taken on a number of ambitious projects and responsibilities. She has been heading up a project with the US Forest Service in Region 4 to build collaborative capacity in the forest plan revision process. For this project, she is designing several trainings the EDR Program will offer for US Forest Service staff on how to incorporate more collaboration opportunities into their new forest revision planning efforts, both externally and internally.
Theresa is spearheading the Forum and Dialogue on Collaboration that the Program on Collaboration (a joint project of the EDR Program and the Langdon Group) is sponsoring on December 13. This half-day Forum will bring together leaders from federal and state agencies to strategize and dream together. The half-day Dialogue will be open to the public, NGOs and agency staff and will focus on funding for collaboration.
Theresa is co-teaching the Short Course on Effective Natural Resources Collaboration with Director Rumore, which provides an opportunity to teach skills and concepts related to collaboration and mediation to professionals in both the public and private sectors. Finally, Theresa is co-teaching the Environmental Conflict Resolution course at the law school this fall with Michele Straube, who retired in August 2017 as the Director of the EDR Program.