New Dispute Resolution Center Established
Posted: July 21, 2000 at 1:00 am, Last Updated: November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am
George Mason announced yesterday the establishment of an interdisciplinary dispute resolution center that will provide specialized education and training in the law and practice of dispute resolution.
To be located at the Arlington Campus, the Center for Advanced Study of Law and Dispute Resolution Processes will offer a number of educational programs, including conferences, seminars, workshops, and internships.
“We are very pleased to have this center as an academic arm within the university,” says Provost Peter Stearns. “Being so close to the nation’s capital where much discussion and debate between and within agencies and various constituencies occur, we believe this dispute resolution center will meet a very important need.”
The center was created as a result of a partnership between the National Mediation Board (NMB) and George Mason’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) and the School of Law. Senior officials from each of the three entities–Ernest DuBester, chairman of NMB, Sandra Cheldelin, director of ICAR, and Daniel Polsby, associate dean of the law school–form the center’s policy-making body.
Ronald Etters has been appointed the center’s director and chief executive officer. Etters is on a multi-year assignment to the university from his position as NMB general counsel. Initially, Etters says, the center will focus on education associated with labor-management dispute resolution in the airline and railroad industries.