International Experts Offer Sound Advice on Conflict Resolution, Community Building

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Deepika Marya

Effective conflict-resolution methods can profoundly affect the ways that warring countries solve boundary issues or socio-economic groups live alongside one another. Similarly, one can see the benefits that conflict resolution and community-building techniques have when applied by collegiate student leaders and administration.

As a proactive measure, administrators at Rochester Institute of Technology present “Social Justice and Conflict Resolution on Campus,” 10 a.m. Dec. 3, in the Idea Factory, Wallace Library. This session is free and open to the RIT community. RIT’s Center for Professional Development also offers “Applying a Social Justice Lens to Conflict Resolution and Community Building,” 1 p.m. Dec. 3. To register for this session, call 585-475-6200.

Both sessions are offered by international experts Leah Wing and Deepika Marya as part of RIT’s Principles of Community Lecture Series, sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Center for Residence Life, Student Government, RIT Leadership Institute, Center for Professional Development, Division of Academic Affairs and Ombudsman’s Office.

Wing, co-director of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has taught dispute resolution since 1993. Her research and teaching applies critical race theory to mediation and issues of environmental justice. She has been a mediator and trainer since 1985, working with more than 100 educational institutions and nonprofits on the intersections between oppression, diversity and conflict resolution. She has served two terms on the board of directors of the Association of Conflict Resolution and is a member of the editorial board of Conflict Resolution Quarterly.

Marya is assistant professor of English at University of Southern Maine and has been active in the conflict resolution field since 1994. She consults at colleges and universities across the U.S., leading workshops on conflict, conflict resolution and social justice. She has been a labor negotiator and consultant in university and college settings for several years and originated the use of critical theory in mediation training and intervention.

For more information on the Principles of Community Lecture Series, call 585-475-7200.

Leah Wing