May 2008, Volume 2, Issue 4.

ICAR does not offer a language program, but students who graduate with a degree from the Institute still need to know how to translate their skills and knowledge for potential employers. That task was a primary focus of the third ICAR Career Intensive, which was held on March 28 and explored the fields of organizational conflict and consulting.

"The translating of the skills we learn at ICAR into the real world is often a gap between theory and practice," said Patricia Maulden, who earned her M.S. degree and Ph.D. from ICAR and is now an adjunct faculty member. She attended the all day session to learn about consulting and sharpen her interviewing skills. "I am not partial to interviews and never know quite what to say,"...

This year there is one international Applied Practice and Theory (APT) team, studying the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. The Zapatista movement is a group of mainly indigenous Mexicans who have been actively struggling to exercise their right to work, land, housing, food, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace since the start of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. After dialogue with the Mexican government came to a standstill, the Zapatistas formed autonomous communities, which they still rule independent of the official government.

The international APT team is a group of four M. S. students, Elizabeth Clawson, Crystal Ruple, Sofey Saidi and Amanda Tyson, advised by Dr. Karina Korostelina....

The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) held a one day symposium at Point of View on April 7, 2008, on Consciousness and Conflict Resolution". The event featured presentations by ICAR Faculty Andrea Bartoli, Susan Allen Nan, Jamie Price and Solon Simmons. The presentations stimulated lively discussion amongst participating additional ICAR Faculty, ICAR Advisory Board Members, ICAR doctoral students, the ICAR Director, faculty from other universities, and leading conflict resolution practitioners. A generous grant from the One Foundation made the symposium, and the research that informed it, possible.

Susan Allen Nan presented a research paper arguing that at its core, conflict resolution is about...

Public Health's Voice in Climate Change Debate

World Health Day, April 7, marked the 60th Anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO). This year focused on the need to protect health from the adverse effects of climate change. WHO chose this topic in recognition that climate change will continue to be a threat to global public health. As a global health M.S. student at George Mason University, this position speaks volumes for me. It is time for those in public health to have a voice in the climate change conversation.

According to Margaret Chan, WHO Director- General, "The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events—more storms, floods, droughts and heat waves—will be abrupt and acutely felt. Both trends can affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: air, water, food, shelter and freedom from...

Incoming President, Graduate Students in Conflict Studies (GSCS): Imagine finding yourself constantly in a disaster zone, surrounded by conflicts with long histories. This is  why incoming GSCS president Terra Tolley decided to pursue studies in conlict analysis. After traveling to Cambodia, Rwanda, and the Balkans, she returned to the US to carry out disaster relief work in the Gulf region. While there, she came to the realization that she would like to transfer her understanding of the volatilty of post-disaster zones into a degree. Therefore, she has been immersing herself in both her studies and continu-ing her work on risk and impact assessment since she joined the...