Ned Becker, Chair of the Faculty-Peer Mediation Committee, provided update on Emory’s Faculty-Peer Mediation process at October’s Faculty Council meeting. Faculty peer mediation is a faculty-led, faculty-focused alternative dispute resolution structure and process that is embedded within university-level faculty governance structures. This infrastructure and process seeks to leverage trained faculty neutrals to facilitate voluntary, confidential, informal meditations to help faculty successfully resolve conflicts with other faculty before conflicts escalate. In May, twenty Emory faculty completed the 28 hour peer mediation training course. The course received great feedback from the participants. The next training session is in December. The December course has over 50 applicants, and some applicants are wait-listed for the next May training course. The mediators represent all 9 Emory schools/colleges. Confidentiality is one of the main focuses for the mediation process. Taking part in mediation is strictly voluntary. Mediation may be suggested to faculty as a way to resolve workplace problems. No one can be required to go to mediation, and it can be stopped at any time. Faculty who use mediation do not give up their right to use the grievance procedures available to them at any time. Emory University encourages use of mediation and University policy prohibits retaliation against any person solely for requesting or participating in mediation. For more information, please visit the Committee’s website – http://provost.emory.edu/faculty/governance/mediation/index.html.
Category: Faculty Mediation
Faculty Mediation Training Update
Michael Sacks and Kathryn Yount delivered an update on the upcoming faculty peer mediation training. A mediation training has been scheduled for May 13-16, and will be led by Professor Timothy Hedeen, the faculty ombudsperson at Kennesaw State University and a professor of conflict management. Most schools and colleges at Emory will have a faculty delegate present at the May training, with other schools and colleges have committed to send a representative to the December training. At this point, Emory does not have consistent services for voluntary mediation within the schools, so these trainings will provide a network of trained faculty neutrals who can serve as the first point of contact within each school. Faculty who will serve as neutrals on the new standing committee for faculty peer mediation also will be trained in May.
Standing Committee on Faculty Mediation
The Faculty Council approved the creation of a Standing Committee on Faculty Dispute Resolution, which would provide informal, voluntary, faculty-led mediation services and training in conflict resolution for Emory faculty. The vote followed recommendations presented by Sheryl Heron, professor of emergency medicine, and Michael Sacks, associate professor in the practice of organization and management, who co-chair a special committee approved last semester to explore the creation of a process for faculty to address and resolve interpersonal conflicts and organizational challenges. The standing committee’s mission will be to “assist faculty with resolving conflicts that arise from everyday work life before these conflicts become formal grievances,” according to the report given by Dr. Heron and Dr. Sacks. “This initiative is an important opportunity for transformative cultural change,” says Council Chair Kathryn Yount.