FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, July 12, 2005

New Directors Named for Maxwell School's Conflict Resolution Program

Dean Mitchel Wallerstein of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University has announced the appointments of Professor Rosemary O’Leary and Catherine Gerard as co-directors of the school’s interdisciplinary Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts (PARC).

“I am delighted that Rosemary and Catherine have agreed to collaborate in co-leading PARC. Together, they bring to the program an exceptionally broad perspective and range of experience on leadership and collaborative problem-solving. I am excited about the new energy and vision that they will bring to PARC,” said Wallerstein.

O'Leary is Distinguished Professor of Public Administration with additional appointments in political science and law.  An elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Public Administration, she was a senior Fulbright scholar in Malaysia in 1998-1999 and will be a senior Fulbright scholar in the Philippines in 2005-2006. Previously O'Leary was professor of public and environmental affairs at Indiana University and co-founder and co-director of the Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute.

Gerard, who will serve as sole director of PARC during the 2006 academic year while O’Leary is in the Philippines, is associate director of Executive Education Programs at Maxwell, where she manages the master of arts in public administration degree program, serves as graduate course professor for the Department of Public Administration, and designs and delivers executive education programs for domestic and international customers. She served as assistant director for the New York State Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, assisting leaders with organizational change and designing and developing training programs.  She has also consulted with public and non-profit organizations in the areas of strategic planning, leadership/management, organizational change, team-building and conflict resolution, labor-management partnerships, and total quality management.

These collective experiences will serve PARC well, says Wallerstein. “Conflict resolution is no longer the ‘alternative process’ it once was. More typically, it is an adjunct or enhancement to existing administrative and judicial processes. In today’s world of public affairs, collaborative public management and networked governance have changed the skill set needed by public managers. Expertise in negotiation and collaborative problem solving is essential and may very well be the most important skill a public manager or policymaker needs, whether in the domestic U.S. context or international settings,” he adds.

To satisfy this need, O’Leary and Gerard intend to continue to strengthen the Maxwell School’s conflict resolution curriculum and to develop new PARC research activities and approaches to conflict resolution training. Students will have new opportunities to learn problem-solving techniques and strategies through mini-courses and training sessions. PARC will also strengthen its graduate certificate program in conflict resolution and develop a strong community mediation center. These efforts will expand upon PARC’s accomplishments under the leadership of Professor Robert Rubinstein, who has stepped down as PARC director after 10 years and returned to full-time duty as a professor of anthropology. “Under Robert’s leadership, PARC continued to expand both its domestic and international reputation in the field of conflict resolution. He leaves a legacy of a well-established program base upon which Rosemary and Catherine can build,” commented Dean Wallerstein.

PARC was established in 1986 with a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Its founding director was Professor Emeritus Louis Kriesberg, who continues to make important intellectual contributions to PARC and to the field of conflict resolution.

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The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, founded in 1924, is the premier academic institution in the United States committed to scholarship, civic leadership, and education in public and international affairs. Maxwell is home to Syracuse University’s social science departments and to numerous nationally recognized multidisciplinary graduate programs in public policy, international studies, social policy, and conflict resolution. Maxwell's graduate program in public administration -- the first of its kind -- is ranked consistently the best in the nation.

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Contact: Jill Leonhardt, director of communications, (315) 443-5492; jlleonha@maxwell.syr.edu.