Our Mission

How We Can Assist You

Supporting University of Virginia Diversity Efforts

Elements from UVA Diversity “Areas of Engagement” Goals Supported by IEN:

• We envision a community of understanding, acceptance and respect
• The relationship between the University and the surrounding community is important …
• Diversifying the faculty is an essential part of achieving our goal …
• Expanding the University curricula to incorporate a broader range of multicultural perspectives …
• Engaging students from diverse backgrounds is critical to … addressing the environmental concerns that continue to cause different levels of satisfaction ...
• The most effective way to ensure substantial numbers of well-prepared students for admission is to support and assist students ... through their elementary and secondary school experience.

A community of understanding, acceptance and respect

• IEN has secured a grant and is working with the OAAA and Carter G. Woodson Institute to follow the General Assembly and Board of Visitors’ resolutions concerning slavery and segregation to understand the historical legacy of slavery, segregation and discrimination and develop more responses to address the legacy of those wrongs.
• IEN is a national leader among conflict resolution and collaborative governance professionals in questions of diversity and equity, with many solicited presentations and papers on the topic.
• IEN has mediated and facilitated several UVA internal conflicts involving explicit dimensions of race, culture, class, gender or sexual orientation.

Relationship with community

• With guidance from OAAA and the Woodson Institute, IEN is conducting meetings with individuals in the community to understand community attitudes towards UVA, with a focus on the historical legacy of slavery, segregation and discrimination and efforts to address those wrongs.
• IEN Director Frank Dukes was a featured speaker at the February 2008 OAAA Forum on UVA-Community relations “Tie That Binds”.
• Much of IEN work, such as the EDRA Places 2007 Award-winning “Money Point Revitalization Plan,” the ongoing “Food Systems” roundtable, and the current “King William Reservoir” project, includes explicit racial and environmental justice components, often introduced by IEN.

• IEN director Frank Dukes co-chaired a Diversity Roundtable committee on Faculty Recruitment, Hiring, Retention, and Promotion.
• IEN is frequently consulted by minority faculty concerning conflict and collaborative planning.

Expanding Curricula

• USEM “Righting Unrightable Wrongs” focuses on effective responses to egregious wrongs such as genocide, slavery and segregation, and always attracts a diverse group of students.
• “Collaborative Planning” incorporates projects involving explicit dimensions of race and environmental justice.
• “Mediation Theory and Practice” incorporates multi-cultural conflict.

• IEN director Frank Dukes has served as a faculty mentor for the Office of African-American Affairs mentoring program since the inception of the program.
• IEN has secured research assistantships for 2008-09 for one undergraduate and one graduate student for examining the legacy of slavery, segregation and discrimination and efforts to address those wrongs.
• IEN has provided several paid internships for African-American Planning program graduate students.

Precollege populations

• IEN Director Frank Dukes has chaired School Improvement Programs in local elementary and high schools, including one beginning a school mediation program and one addressing the racial gap in educational achievement.
• IEN led the facilitation of a Virginia General Assembly sponsored conference on “Education in Virginia: Access, Diversity and the Law” intended to examine the legacy of segregation on Virginia’s institutions of higher education.

Fulfilling University of Virginia Priorities

Elements from UVA Strategic Priorities supported by IEN:

• Build on the University’s founding principle as an agent for the common good;
• Promote public-directed leadership;
• Connect the classroom with the real world by encouraging students to put theories into practice and build theories based on practice and observation;
• Connect academic life to public service through academic service learning and community-based research;
• Ensure that graduate programs serve student expectations, including … future employment;
• Invite professors and students from other nations to the Grounds as a means of internationalizing the University’s intellectual life.

Collaborative Governance

IEN helps groups resolve conflict and build consensus for challenging public policy problems.

Collaborative Leadership

IEN leads Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute (1999 - present).

Learning Opportunities for Student Interns and Visiting Fellows

IEN engages graduate student interns annually to work on specific public service projects.

IEN hosts visiting faculty and researchers from 15 other nations.

Curriculum

IEN teaches innovative courses in negotiation, conflict resolution and collaboration.

University Services

IEN mediates and facilitates university issues and conflicts.

• Internal departmental issues, University-Community issues (e.g., Milton Airfield/Police/Glenmore dispute, mental health providers, Sentara and QualChoice).
• Train and mentor University Mediation Service since 1996.

IEN increases UVA’s visibility and enhances UVA’s reputation, especially among prospective students and faculty.