Changes Coming to Creighton

From EFOI Jackie Font-Guzmán:

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce a new development for the Program on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NCR) at Creighton University which will enhance our capacity to serve Creighton students, to engage the greater Creighton and Omaha communities and beyond, and to contribute to the field of conflict engagement.  The NCR faculty and staff are moving with the NCR Program and the 2040 Initiative from the Werner Institute at the School of Law to the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Graduate School.  The Department of Interdisciplinary Studies is a vibrant and flourishing department and the academic home to the Ed.D. in Interdisciplinary Leadership as well as Masters degrees in  Organizational Leadership, Health and Wellness Coaching, Health Care Ethics, Health Care Administration, and Public Health.

Our move to the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, which comes as the result of much discernment by the Creighton University administration, offers an exciting opportunity to strengthen existing collaborations. The NCR Program will continue to partner with community organizations; offer the interdisciplinary M.S. in NCR, graduate certificates and dual degrees; promote community outreach through high-caliber trainings and symposiums; and engage in applied research. Moving to the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies will facilitate the NCR Program’s ongoing renewal and development of our innovative courses and curriculum.

The move also provides new opportunities for growth.  Creighton’s 2040 Initiative, provides a forum for addressing how demographic changes such as race, ethnicity, aging, urbanization, economic inequality, and healthcare disparities, affect law and politics.  The move offers additional avenues for the NCR Program to build on an already-robust working relationship with the 2040 Initiative and to extend our focus on social justice and Ignatian values in new directions. We are also currently exploring additional collaborations with the College of Arts and Science and the Institute for Economic Inquiry at the Heider College of Business.

As part of the move, I am excited to announce that Palma Joy Strand, Professor of Law, will be fully joining our team. As many of you know, Professor Strand, previously tenured faculty in the Law School, has been collaborating with the NCR Program for the last 10 years. Among her many accomplishments, Professor Strand clerked for Justice Byron R. White on the United States Supreme Court, was a Hewlett Fellow in Alternative Dispute Resolution and Legal Problem-Solving at the Georgetown University Law Center from 2002-2004, and Chaired the University Network for Collaborative Governance from 2013-2015.  She has been the Director of the 2040 Initiative, and she will continue to lead in this collaboration.

I am also writing to let you know that my own role will be shifting. On May 15, 2017, I submitted my letter of resignation as Director of the Werner Institute effective July 31, 2017. I will continue at Creighton University as the Director of the NCR Program in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.  The Werner Institute will continue to be located in the School of Law. The NCR Program has been growing in the last years, and I will be dedicating my full attention to continuing to expand and enhance the program.

I am also personally energized by all the interdisciplinary possibilities in my new academic home.

All of us who have worked at the Werner Institute and who will now be moving to the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies very much appreciate the opportunities that the Law School has provided to develop our program.  We appreciate the support of past deans and other colleagues at the Law School over the past twelve years.  And we especially appreciate Dean Paul McGreal of the School of Law for his support and vision.  Thanks to him and others, the NCR Program is thriving.

We look forward to continuing a rewarding and productive relationship with you. Please feel free to contact me or any member of our team if you have questions about the NCR Program moving to the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Best,

Jackie

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