Western Carolina University

The Interdisciplinary Minor in Conflict Resolution and Cross-Cultural Communication provides a unique opportunity for students to become trained campus and community mediators. A mediator is a neutral third party who helps parties to resolve a dispute without going to court.

The Student Experience
Students are taught mediation skills that will be useful throughout their lives, allowing them to assist disputing parties in reaching a peaceable agreement. This discipline focuses on skills development. Students will learn how to communicate better, how to communicate across cultures, how to negotiate better agreements, and how to help third parties to reach agreement.

The Faculty
The professors are friendly and caring. They get to know the students well because they work closely with them during the mediation training and when they co-mediate cases. They are willing to work individually with students to research conflict resolution within their particular area of interest.

Careers in Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution skills are important skills for lawyers, managers, human resource personnel, religious leaders, health care advocates, labor management specialists, social workers, family counselors, psychologists, case managers, educators, diplomats, and politicians. According to the U.S. Department of Labor mediation jobs are expected to increase between 9 and 17 percent by 2014.

The Curriculum
The Interdisciplinary Minor in Conflict Resolution is comprised of five courses and a required service learning cooperative experience.

Required courses:

• BA 304: "Business Communications in a Multi-Cultural Environment"
• LAW 285: "Mediation"
• BA 495: "Dispute Resolution Seminar"

Select two electives from the following:

• MGT 302: "Labor-Management Relations"
• CMHC 415: "Intercultural Communication"
• LAW 412: "Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibility"
• CJ  311: "Juvenile Justice and Delinquency"
• MKT 409: "Negotiations/Relationship Marketing"

Related Service Learning Experience or Cooperative Learning Experience:

Students must participate in at least ten hours per week of an approved cooperative learning experience, which involves direct, hands-on mediation or facilitation practice and guided reflection on service learning activities.

Students will be trained as campus and community mediators. They will use their mediation skills to co-mediate disputes between students through the Campus Mediation Program. Students will observe mediations of criminal cases referred by local prosecutors to community mediation, both in the local county district courts as well as the tribal court on the Qualla Boundary. Students also can become peer trainers.

In addition, students will intern either with the Campus Mediation Program, the district court mediation program, or the North Carolina Agricultural Mediation Program.