ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Conflict Resolution and Public Participation Center of Expertise (CPCX) welcomes Dr. Frank Dukes, the Director of the University of Virginia's Institute for Environmental Negotiation, as its second visiting scholar in conflict resolution and public participation. Dr. Dukes will support the USACE CPCX for fiscal year 2014 and will aid in development of the center’s next five-year plan from 2015 to 2019.
Dr. Dukes has significant experience in public involvement and collaborative capacity development. As a visiting scholar, he will assist in developing a process to evaluate USACE’s collaborative capacity, and analyze USACE case studies. Dr. Dukes will also deliver seminars to the Collaboration and Public Participation Community of Practice.
"We're really looking forward to having Dr. Dukes with us for a year. We have the opportunity to learn from one of the leaders in the conflict resolution field, and we think his expertise will help us develop a bold and innovative strategy to guide our activities over the next five years,” Dr. Hal Cardwell, CPCX Director, said. “We’re also excited about his ability to pull together different sources of information to develop a way to evaluate the collaborative capacity of USACE in ways that will be actionable at the Headquarters, Division and District levels."
Dr. Dukes designs dispute resolution, mediates and facilitates, conducts research, and teaches and trains individuals as a part of his role as the Director of the University of Virginia's (UVA) Institute for Environmental Negotiation. He has been recognized with the 2012 Share M. Pickett Award for Environmental Conflict Resolution. He currently instructs courses at UVA on mediation theory and skills, as well as collaborative planning.
In his capacity as a visiting scholar, Dr. Dukes will interact with the CPCX team by preparing written documents, coordinating and leading webinars, leading the center through facilitated work sessions and brainstorming, and interacting with CPC's network in the field. USACE's first visiting scholar in conflict resolution and public participation was Gail Bingham of RESOLVE, who helped to develop the center’s first five year plan.