Brad Spangler's blog

The EPP Leadership Council is proud to announce Laura Sneeringer as the recipient of the inaugural Rob Williams Award for Emerging Environment and Public Policy Leaders. Laura is a Collaborative Services Specialist with SRA International’s Environmental and Organizational Solutions Group in Denver, Colorado. Congratulations, Laura!

The award was designed to provide a developing practitioner with a platform to build relationships with peers in the field and become involved with EPP, hopefully creating a future leader in the Section and Association. Laura clearly expressed her commitment to the EPP field, as well as an ability and energy to identify a professional challenge and take action to address it in a positive way that builds bridges and betters the field. This is the essence of the award’s intent, as it was established in honor of the late Rob Williams, who devoted an amazing amount of energy and enthusiasm to enhancing the field and the professional development of its emerging practitioners. As the recipient of the 2010 Rob Williams Award for Emerging Environment and Public Policy Leaders, Laura will receive a:

Mediate.com recently posted a series of short videos presenting insights from leading practitioners about different aspects of ADR practice. Examples of videos most relevant to the EPP section include:

• Juliana Birkhoff explaining how her dissertation demonstrates mediation is
  in fact a field and that what is uniting among experienced mediators is
  the concept of power.
• Greg Bourne talking about being a more directive mediator in public policy
  and environmental disputes where the parties want to move forward as
  quickly as possible.
• Gail Bingham sharing her views on how up-and-coming mediators should
  start mediating from the very beginning, involving all the parties in an
  assessment or diagnosis of the dispute.
• Susan Carpenter sharing the concerns she has for the field of public
  policy mediation including training, use of concepts, and lack of
  sharing knowledge.

Click here to view the videos.

Thank you to Mediate.com for collecting and posting these thought-provoking videos.

The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution is currently accepting applications for two positions. The application deadline is April 19. Here are the details...

Program Associate or Senior Program Associate - Tucson, AZ

The U.S. Institute is seeking experienced individuals for the position of Program Associate or Senior Program Associate on the program staff. The successful applicant will join the staff in managing environmental conflict resolution (ECR) projects where contracted neutrals are the primary service providers.

The Environment and Public Policy Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution would like to announce the Rob Williams Award for Emerging Environment and Public Policy Leaders. This award was established in recognition of the late Rob Williams’ commitment and contributions to the field of environmental and public policy dispute resolution and the professional development of its practitioners. The award will be presented this year to an emerging practitioner who demonstrates the promise to exercise the leadership exemplified by Rob.

Please click here for a full description of the award and application materials. Completed application materials are due by 5:00pm Eastern on Friday, March 26, 2010.

Rob Williams, 38, beloved son of Dr. David&Janet Williams, on Oct. 26, 2009 lost his long battle with bipolar depression which he had kept at bay so successfully for almost 20 years.

Born October 7, 1971 in Nashville, Tennessee, Rob moved to California with his parents when he as 9 months old and always considered himself a native.  He attended Laguna Blanca, Santa Barbara, The Thacher School in Ojai and Wesleyan University, Conn., where he received a B.A. with Honors in the College of Social Studies, a selective program combining history, philosophy, government and economics.

Please Save the Date of May 24, 2010 for the EPP Section Conference in Tucson.

Stay tuned to the EPP website for further information on the section conference. The Section is pleased to offer the EPP conference in cooperation with the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution. Please check out the website for the USIECR Conference, which will be held May 25-27, 2010 at the same location.

The 2009 ACR EPP Section Election results are in! Congratulations to the new members of the Section Leadership Council:

• John C. Jostes, Section Co-Chair, 2009-2011
• Suzanne Schwartz, At-Large Seat, 2009-2011
• Kevin Bryan, At-Large Seat, 2009-2011
• Turner Odell, At-Large Seat, 2009-2011
• Jennifer Peyser, At-Large Seat, 2009-2010

Announcement from ACR...

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CALL FOR ARTICLE PROPOSAL
ACResolution Magazine Winter 2009

ACR’s winter 2009 issue of ACResolution magazine will focus on the topic of Conflict Resolution and Technology.
We seek proposals from people who would like to write articles on any aspect of this topic. We seek diversity in authors and subject matter; authors do not have to be ACR members.

If interested, please:

• write a half-page (150-300 word) description of your proposed article,
• include a title/headline for your article,
• include your name, e-mail address and phone number and that of any co-authors as well,
• include one to three lines of biographical information,
• specify if you would like to write a major (2,700 words) or minor (1,300 words) feature, and

The "Development of Mid-Level ADR Practitioners" session on June 12, 2009 at the Annual ACR Environment and Public Policy (EPP) Section Conference in Denver, CO offered a chance for mid-level and senior practitioners to share lessons learned about pursuing one's own professional development in our field. In large and small group discussions, participants generated a set of practical ideas and strategies that mid-level ADR practitioners can apply to further their growth and development in the EPP arena.

What's your background? Where do you work? On what issues?

In the spirit of making connections and building up the EPP online community, please feel free to post a brief description of yourself and your work in the fascinating world of environment and public policy dispute resolution. To kick things off, here is a link to my bio on the Meridian Institute website: http://www.merid.org/bio.php?id=45

I look forward to sharing thoughts and information with fellow practitioners and others interested in our exciting and challenging field!