WHO'S WHO

Fellows
Administrative Office
Board of Directors
Associates

Fellows

James R. Antes, Ph.D., james_antes@und.nodak.edu

Dr. Antes is Professor of Psychology and Peace Studies at the University of North Dakota and former director of the UND Conflict Resolution Center. He has extensive experience in the field of conflict resolution as a mediator, workshop leader, and consultant. Holding a Ph.D. degree in psychology from Iowa State University, he has numerous publications and presentations at professional conferences on various aspects of conflict resolution, focusing especially on the practice of mediation from the transformative perspective. Dr. Antes was a member of the national training team that trained mediators and US Postal Service employees in the transformative mediation framework. He served as a core team member of the Practice Enrichment Initiative, a project funded by the Hewlett and Surdna Foundations to develop the practice of the transformative approach to mediation. His work on that project concentrated on the evaluation of transformative mediation practice. Current projects include further work on mediator assessment and consulting with community mediation centers that are considering the adoption of the transformative framework. Dr. Antes is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and was recently appointed to the newly formed North Dakota Joint Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Winnie Backlund, M.Ed., wgbacklund@comcast.net

Winnie Backlund is currently the Director of Mediation and Training for Montgomery County Mediation Center (MCMC), Norristown, PA, a community mediation center that provides mediation, facilitation, and training. For ten years prior to her current position she served as Executive Director of MCMC. Ms. Backlund has extensive experience and training in the field of conflict resolution and mediation and has been a mediator for community, family, organizational and workplace disputes since 1987. As an experienced conflict resolution trainer and educator, Ms Backlund presents mediation and conflict resolution programs locally, state wide and nationally for various organizations. Ms. Backlund is a member of the Court Custody Mediation Advisory Panel in Montgomery County, PA. and a Court Approved Mediator Supervisor. She was the Conference Coordinator for the First National Conference on Transformative Mediation "Looking Back, Looking Forward: Ten Years After the Promise of Mediation" held in Philadelphia, PA, November 2004. Ms Backlund is past president of Pennsylvania Council of Mediators (PCM), former editor of PCM's newsletter, "The Report," and was a participant of the Model Standards Symposium that developed the "Model Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce Mediation" published in 2000. Prior to focusing her professional activities to the field of mediation and conflict resolution, Ms. Backlund was a management consultant to national and international companies as well as Assistant Professor of Psychology, adjunct faculty member of Philadelphia University and Montgomery County Community College. She earned a B.A in Psychology from Ithaca College and M.Ed. in Counseling from Antioch University.

Robert A. Baruch Bush, J.D., Robert.A.Bush@hofstra.edu

Professor Bush is the Rains Distinguished Professor of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Law at Hofstra University School of Law, Hempstead, NY. He is a graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School. At Hofstra, Professor Bush directs a clinical course in mediation and teaches other courses on ADR and on Tort Law. He has served as a consultant on dispute resolution to court and school systems in New York, California and Florida, and as a special consultant to the Hewlett Foundation's Conflict Theory Center Program. He recently finished co-directing a project in which fifty experienced mediation trainers from the US and Canada collaborated to develop new training materials focused on the transformative framework of mediation. He also recently completed co-directing the Practice Enrichment Initiative, a project aimed at enhancing the resources available to those interested in the transformative framework, in the key areas of practice, research and policy. Both of these project were funded jointly by the Hewlett and Surdna Foundations. Professor Bush is co-author, with Dr. Joseph Folger of Temple University, of The Promise of Mediation (Jossey-Bass, 1994), which received the 1995 Annual Book Award from the International Association of Conflict Management. Bush is also the author of numerous articles on mediation and ADR, including an award-winning study of mediation ethics, The Dilemmas of Mediation Practice (National Institute for Dispute Resolution, 1992). Most recently, Professor Bush co-edited, with Folger, Designing Mediation: Approaches to Training and Practice within a Transformative Framework (Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, 2001). Professor Bush has practiced mediation in various contexts since starting a community mediation program in San Francisco in 1976, and has developed and conducted many training programs on mediation and ADR, including training for lawyers and judges. He has been a featured speaker and panelist at international, national and regional programs on mediation and ADR.

Dorothy J. Della Noce, J.D., Ph.D., dellandj@jmu.edu

Dorothy J. Della Noce, J.D., Ph.D., is a Fellow and a founding Board Member of the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation. She is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she directs both the Center for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue and the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Intervention. Dr. Della Noce has been active in the mediation field for more than twenty years, providing mediation services and training, serving in leadership roles in various state and national organizations, and participating in cutting-edge initiatives to move theory into practice. Dr. Della Noce is an experienced conflict resolution educator and trainer. She presents a wide range of training programs in partnership with state mediation associations, courts, non-profit and governmental agencies, and community mediation centers. Her presentations for national and international dispute resolution organizations, such as ACR, AFM, SPIDR, NCPCR, NIP, and NMI, receive consistently high ratings. At the college level, she has taught courses in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mediation, Legal Communication, Introductory Research Methods, and Qualitative Research Methods. She has twice been named Communication Studies Professor of the Year by students at James Madison University. Prior to joining the faculty at James Madison University, she taught courses in mediation and conflict resolution at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary, The National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, Hamline University and Pepperdine University. Dr. Della Noce has published numerous articles in legal and ADR journals, book chapters, and the Supreme Court of Virginia's original ADR Procedures Manual. Her research interests focus on the relationship of theory, practice and policy in ADR, and she has a preference for applied communication research projects. Dr. Della Noce was part of a team of Institute members who conducted qualitative research on mediation programs for the State of Florida and for the United States Postal Service. As part of another research team, she developed empirically based coding schemes for the United States Postal Service Mediator Assessment Project as well as the performance-based Mediator Certification Program for the ISCT. She was a co-coordinator of the Practice Enrichment Initiative, a grant-funded project led by Baruch Bush and Joseph P. Folger, to support mediation practice, training assessment, and policy-making. She was also a member of the Training Design Consultation Project, a grant-funded theory-to-practice initiative also led by Bush and Folger, devoted to the development of mediator training materials based on relational premises and transformative practice. Dr. Della Noce's service to the field of conflict resolution includes terms as President of the Academy of Family Mediators (AFM) and President of the Virginia Mediation Network. She is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Conflict Resolution Quarterly. Dr. Della Noce is a graduate of LaSalle College in Philadelphia. She received her JD from Western New England School of Law, and her doctorate in Communication Sciences from Temple University, where she was awarded a University Fellowship. Her dissertation research explored the discourse practices of mediators.

Joseph P. Folger, Ph.D., jfolger@temple.edu

Dr. Folger is a Professor of Communication at Temple University in Philadelphia. He received a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Wisconsin and served on the faculty of the University of Michigan prior to his appointment at Temple. He is a former chair of the communication department and the former Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the School of Communications and Theater. He conducts research and teaches in the area of conflict management, mediation, group process and decision-making. Dr. Folger has worked extensively as a third party intervener and mediator in organizational, community and family disputes. He has been the program chair for the National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution and has helped to establish several major conflict intervention programs. He is currently a senior consultant with Communication Research Associates where he conducts communication skills training, coaching and conflict intervention.  Dr. Folger has published extensively in the area of communication, conflict and mediation. His recent books include the award-winning volumes Working through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups and Organizations, 3rd Edition (with S. Poole and R.K. Stutman) and The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict through Empowerment and Recognition (with R.A.B. Bush). He has also published numerous research articles as well as the edited volume, New directions in mediation (with T. S. Jones). Most recently he completed a two-year mediation training development project funded by the Hewlett and Surdna Foundations. He is also co-editor, with R.A.B. Bush of the new publication, Designing Mediation: Approaches to Training and Practice within a Transformative Framework (Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, 2001).

Kristine Paranica, J.D., kristine_paranica@und.nodak.edu

Ms. Paranica has been the Director of the Conflict Resolution Center at the University of North Dakota for more than five years, and a transformative mediator for seven year, and is a trainer and facilitator of transformative mediation, conflict management, and other processes. She serves as Adjunct Professor of Law in Alternative Dispute Resolution at the UND School of Law. She serves as on the North Dakota’s Joint Committee on A.D.R., the UND Council on Campus Climate, and the American Indian Program Council. She is a family practitioner member of ACR. Kristine previously served as a District Court Staff Attorney where she helped to establish and oversee the district’s mediation program and served as a Judicial Referee. Ms. Paranica has published works in the North Dakota Law Review and at Mediate.Com, and has presented nationally at the International Conference of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) in Toronto in 2001, the Family Section Conference of the ACR in 2002, the National Conference for ACR in Florida in 2003, the ISCT Workplace Symposium in Houston, keynote speaker at the 2004 Conference of the Family Mediators Canada, area human resources conferences, and other statewide and regional conferences. She has co-developed online courses in Leadership and Conflict Resolution through the UND Medical School and Mayo Clinic, and Conflict Resolution: Basics of Conflict Management through UND’s Continuing Education program.

Sally Ganong Pope, M.Ed., J.D., spnyc@earthlink.net

Ms. Pope is a private practitioner in New York City, with experience in family and divorce mediation, estate matters, family businesses, workplace disputes, and organizational conflicts. She is has taught mediation as an Adjunct Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Brooklyn Law School and InterAmerican University School of Law, San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is currently an adjunct for intensive programs at Pepperdine and Hamline Law Schools. Ms. Pope is a certified trainer for the New York State Community Dispute Resolution Centers Program and has assisted the Brooklyn Mediation Center with evaluation of mediators and training as well as serving as a volunteer community mediator. Other training activities include the design of a certificate program in mediation for Long Island University, a number of mediation trainings for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, other private trainings in New York City and Suffolk County, New York, and peer mediation training for the Student Network to Confront Racism at LaGuardia Community College in New York City. Former President of the Academy of Family Mediators, Ms. Pope is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops. She is the author of "Inviting Fortuitous Events in Mediation: The Role of Empowerment and Recognition", Mediation Quarterly, Summer 1996, and has spoken about mediation on CNN Financial Network and Court TV.

Judith A. Saul, jas24@cornell.edu

Ms. Saul is the Executive Director and founder of the Community Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. of Chemung, Schuyler and Tompkins County, New York, a community-based center which provides mediation, facilitation and training services to assist in resolving community, civil and criminal court cases and visitation and custody disputes. The center's youth services include parent-teen mediation, peer mediation, anger management curricula and violence prevention training. Through Interface the center offers assistance with the design and facilitation of environmental, public policy and other multi-party disputes. Ms. Saul is a nationally recognized leader in the community mediation field. She served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Community Mediation from 1996-1999, chairing it during 1998-1999. She has served on the Board and the Training Committee of the New York State Dispute Resolution Association. Ms. Saul recently worked as a member a member of Drafting Committee of the American Bar Association's Dispute Resolution Section, which is working with the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws on a Uniform Mediation Act. She currently serves on the New York State Unified Court System's Alterative Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee. Ms. Saul has extensive training experience, most recently concentrating on designing and implementing basic and advanced training for mediators working within a transformative framework.

Thomas J. Wahlrab, jtom.wahlrab@cityofdayton.org

Mr.. Wahlrab is the Coordinator of the Dayton Mediation Center, a community based service of the City of Dayton, Ohio that provides mediation services to assist in resolving community, business, civil, and criminal court cases. The center has, since 1999, developed its mediation practice and trained its citizen mediators solely within the transformative framework. Three school districts within the Dayton area have also committed to developing their peer mediation programs within the transformative model and work closely with the center to develop training materials and peer mediator support systems that are based on the premises of the transformative framework. Mr. Wahlrab serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM), and is a founding member of the Ohio Community Mediation Association. He has provided transformative mediation training to civil court, truancy and child protection mediators throughout Ohio and facilitated dialogues on race relations for Ohio's civil court mediators and citizens throughout Ohio. Mr.. Wahlrab also serves as a victim/offender dialogue facilitator for the Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.