Graduate Certificate Faculty

Director, Graduate Certificate Program
School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

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 Visit Dr. Schoeny's Faculty Page

Mara Schoeny is an assistant professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and the Director of the School's Graduate Certificate Program. She teaches courses in research and evaluation methods, practice skills and the integration of inter-disciplinary approaches to conflict analysis and resolution.

As a CAR educator, scholar and practitioner, Dr. Schoeny serves on the Northern Virginia Mediation Service Board of Directors; on the Board of Reference for the Center for Justice and Peace at Eastern Mennonite University; and is Co-chair of the Taskforce on Higher Education of the Association for Conflict Resolution. She was a 1998 USIA Visiting Fellow in the Curriculum Development Exchange Program, in residence at Yerevan State University, Armenia and served as Co-Director of the U.S. Department of State Benjamin Franklin Summer Institute with South and Central Asia in 2010. In addition to the U.S. Department of State, Dr. Schoeny has worked with the U.S. Department of Education, the Ford Foundation, USAID, and various non-governmental organizations.

Dr. Schoeny received the 2008 Teaching Excellence Award from George Mason University and has advanced CAR pedagogy through extensive contributions to curriculum design, implementation and evaluation of conflict resolution programs in local, national, international and university contexts. She frequently presents on topics related to teaching and learning in the CAR field at academic conferences around the world and received the Arlington County Board Certificate of Appreciation for her contributions to the 2009 Partner to Diversity Dialogues.

President and Founder of the Community Building Institute

Adjunct Faculty, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

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Visit Bill Potapchuk's Faculty Page

Bill Potapchuk is President and founder of the Community Building Institute. CBI works to strengthen the capacity of communities and organizations to conduct public business inclusively, collaboratively, and effectively with the goal of building healthy, sustainable and equitable futures. He also has served as a facilitator and mediator in a wide range of settings, including successful efforts to merge school systems in North Carolina; transform educational systems in Detroit, strengthen affordable housing policy in Arlington, Virginia, and build consensus on a green building ordinance for Washington , DC. Believing that communities need to build their capacity to work across differences, he helped found Collaboration DC, an initiative working to support the use of collaborative practices to address tough issues. He has worked with co-authors on Learning from Neighborhoods: The Story of the Hampton Neighborhood Initiative, 1993-2003, Community Development: A Guide for Grantmakers on Fostering Better Outcomes through Good Process, Negotiated Approaches to Environmental Decision Making in Communities, and Building Community: Exploring the Role of Social Capital and Local Government. He has co-authored chapters for the Deliberative Democracy Handbook, Consensus Building Handbook and the Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook.

J.D. Antioch School of Law

Adjunct Faculty, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

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 Visit Robert Fisher's Faculty Page

Robert Fisher specializes in facilitating constructive dialogue and cooperative action. He has worked with stakeholders throughout the United States to reach creative solutions to environmental and natural resources, infrastructure planning, intergovernmental coordination, land use, litigation settlement, regulatory programs, strategic planning, and transportation issues. Leadership and group dynamics in high-conflict situations are a practice and research interest. He practiced law in Washington, D.C. specializing in negotiating complex transactions. Robert is the founder of Fisher Collaborative Services LC, based in Alexandria, VA.

James H. Laue Professor of World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution

Director, Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution

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Visit Dr. Gopin's Faculty Page

Visit Dr. Gopin's Web Site

Marc Gopin is the James H. Laue Professor of Religion, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, and the Director of the new Center on Religion, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy's Institute for Human Security. 

Board Member, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Adjunct Faculty, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

President, Kommon Denominator

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Tel: 703-850-4919

Visit Dr.  Abdul-Hadi Jadallah's Faculty Page 

• Conflict Analysis and Resolution (Dialogue, mediation, facilitation, process design)/
• Research and Evaluation
• Organizational Development and Leadership Development
• Training and Education
• Gender Mainstreaming and Women’s Leadership Development
• Public Participatory Processes
• Capacity Building
• MENA Region, US Arab Relations, Muslim World

National Educational Outreach Officer, United States Institute for Peace

Adjunct Faculty, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

M.S. School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

J.D. University of Baltimore

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David J. Smith is a resident of Rockville, Maryland, where he serves as chair of the Rockville Human Rights Commission. Formerly with the U.S. Institute of Peace, he currently teaches at Georgetown University in the Program on Justice and Peace and at George Mason University at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. He is a nationally recognized authority on peacebuilding and higher education. Smith frequently consults on peacebuilding strategies and is available for talks and presentations on the field. Current clients include Street Law, Inc., the Fulbright Association, and Montgomery College (MD).

He wrote his first book, Legal Research and Writing, while teaching at Harford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland. Smith recently published as editor for USIP Press, Peacebuilding in Community Colleges: A Teaching Resource.

Smith has a BA from American University, an MS from George Mason University, and a JD from the University of Baltimore.

He is married and has two children. His wife teaches nursing at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland.

William E. Hall,  Ph.D

Adjunct Faculty, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

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Visit Dr. Hall's Faculty Page

William Hall is an Adjunct Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, where he teaches a course entitled “Principles of Environmental Conflict Resolution.”  Dr. Hall has more than 20 years experience in environmental conflict resolution and negotiation. Currently a staff mediator and facilitator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center, he regularly convenes environmental conflict resolution cases, coaches clients, and manages the Center’s case tracking and evaluation systems. Prior to joining the Center, he spent eight years developing environmental policy for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program at EPA and also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaïre), where he collaborated with rural communities to develop improved water and sanitation infrastructure.

Cynthia Mazur is the Director of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She earned her PhD in conflict resolution from George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. She has been mediating family cases for the D.C. Superior Court and arbitrating legal malpractice and fee dispute cases for the D.C. Bar since 1991. She is a member of the Interagency Alternative Dispute Resolution Working Group, and has been Chair of the Workplace Conflict Management Section since 2003. She is a mentor/mediator in the Federal Shared Neutrals program and has been a member since its inception in 1995. Cindy has written several articles on coaching and teaches ADR at GMU’s School of Law.

Juliana E. Birkhoff,  Ph.D

Adjunct Faculty, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

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Juliana E. Birkhoff is an experienced mediator, facilitator, dispute resolution trainer, and scholar. In her 25 years of experience as a mediator and facilitator, she has worked with federal, state, and local level government as well as consumer, community, grassroots, and public interest groups. She has designed and conducted a variety of collaborative and consensus-based multi-stakeholder dialogues, workshops, and scientific review processes designed to improve communications, develop group learning, integrate complex information and provide input into state or federal plans or policies, develop recommendations, or create agreement on plans and policies. She has particular experience in facilitating and mediating complex scientific and technical issues in politically charged contexts.

David Alpher,  Ph.D

Adjunct Faculty, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

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Visit Saferworld Online

Visit Dr. Alphers' Faculty Page

Dr. Alpher is the Washington Associate for Saferworld, directing their DC policy and advocacy office, liaising with a range of governmental and non-governmental offices to help shape US policy, strategy and doctrine regarding conflict. He comes to that position with over ten years of experience working on conflict resolution and governance issues in Iraq, Israel/Palestine, the Horn of Africa and Central Asia, where he led field programs in conflict resolution, reconstruction and stabilization, youth engagement and governance as well as providing program design and technical advice and conducted conflict assessments. In addition, David was previously Director of Development Policy and Planning with CHF International, engaging in a variety of policy and advocacy work on issues including the impact of foreign assistance programming in conflict contexts. His graduate research focused on the role of democratization on success within development programming, and he has taught in the conflict resolution programs at both George Mason and American University.