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COLLABORATION CERTIFICATE COURSE

Every year, the Wallace Stegner Center EDR Program offers our flagship Collaboration Certificate Course (CCC). The 7-session online course teaches the "art and science" of collaborative problem-solving and conflict resolution through lectures, case studies, peer-to-peer sharing, discussion, and simulation exercises. The course is specifically designed for and targeted toward mid- and upper-level professionals working on environmental, natural resource, and public policy issues. Thanks to the ESRR Endowment Fund for the Wallace Stegner Center, we are able to keep tuition costs low.

Course participants acquire:

  • Awareness and skills to help them harness the co-creative potential of conflict and participate in multi-party collaborative processes;
  • Techniques for identifying opportunities for collaborative problem-solving, as well as skills for convening, facilitating, and sustaining collaborative efforts; and
  • Experience assessing whether a situation is ready for a collaborative approach.

Upon the successful completion of the course - which includes participating in all sessions, completing all pre-work assignments, completing a situation assessment project, and demonstrating sufficient mastery of the concepts - participants will receive a certificate of completion. They also have the opportunity to join the Collaborative Leadership Network, which provides opportunities for continued education, coaching, and peer-to-peer support.

The next Collaboration Certificate Course takes place September 17 - December 17, 2025; session dates and topics are listed in the table below.

Applications are due April 30, 2025.

APPLY HERE

For additional information about the CCC, see the Collaboration Certificate Course 2025 flyer or contact emily.crockett@law.utah.edu.

Please note that federal agency employees are welcome in the CCC and are encouraged to apply for this course. We may also offer a separate cohort of the course specifically for federal agency employees (the Federal Collaboration Certificate Course, or FCCC). If you are a federal agency employee and are interested in the FCCC, contact emily.crockett@law.utah.edu.

Session Dates & Times Content
Session 1 Sept. 17, 2025 (9am-3pm) Introductions, expectations, and core skills
Session 2 Sept. 24, 2025 (9am-5pm)
Sept. 25, 2025 (9am-3pm)		 Introduction to collaboration and key concepts
Session 3 Oct. 8, 2025 (9am-5pm)
Oct 9, 2025 (9am-3pm)		 Interest-based negotiation and other key skills for collaborative problem solving
Session 4 Oct. 22, 2025 (9am-5pm)
Oct. 23, 2025 (9am-3pm)		 Assessing opportunities for collaboration
Session 5 Nov. 12, 2025 (9am-5pm)
Nov. 13, 2025 (9am-3pm)		 Formal collaborative processes and collaborative process design
Session 6 Dec. 3, 2025 (9am-5pm)
Dec. 4, 2025 (9am-3pm)		 Facilitation skills, adaptive leadership, and self-leadership
Session 7 Dec. 17, 2025 (9am-5pm) Facilitation exercise and wrap-up

Thanks to the generosity of the I.J. and Jeanné Wagner Charitable Foundation, we may be able to offer a limited number of scholarships. These scholarships help us create diverse participant cohorts. We welcome additional scholarship support; please contact edrprogram@law.utah.edu.

What our graduates have to say:

“While there are many conflict resolution courses out there, this course adds the critical element of self regulation and the ‘inner’ self reflection work people must first do to prepare to resolve conflicts with others. This is an absolutely necessary addition to the toolbox of conflict resolution tools!”

Maria Lantz, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
“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 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
“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
"Not every situation is ripe for collaboration -- that was a great lightbulb moment for me in this course that I am taking directly into my work and life!”

Josh Johnson, Idaho Conservation League
“[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

Our Selection Criteria

All applications to the Collaboration Certificate Course (CCC) will be carefully considered. Preference is given to candidates who are:

  • Mid-to-upper career level professionals in environmental, natural resource, and/or public policy sectors
  • Working in Utah and/or the Mountain West
  • Positioned to exercise leadership within their organizations/communities
  • Positioned to benefit from the CCC training (e.g., they do not have extensive prior training in ADR, conflict resolution, etc.)
  • Able to bring diversity to the cohort (e.g., represent different interests, backgrounds, organizations, perspectives, etc.)
  • Able to attend all class sessions

We receive far more requests for scholarship funding than we can accommodate. If we have scholarship funds available, priority consideration is given to candidates who meet the above criteria and who also: 1) work for small NGOs, small local government agencies, and/or tribal organizations; and 2) do not have access to training funds.