Accepted to the Conflict Resolution Program!

Katie D.

April 11, 2010 - 10:59 AM

"I am pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to the University of Oregon's Masters in Conflict and Dispute Resolution Program scheduled to begin August 20, 2010. Congratulations! We have selected you based upon your academic record, your interest in conflict resolution, and our belief that you will be an excellent student in our program..."

Friends and readers, I'm in!

I am so excited, and thrilled to be selected as a part of next year's cohort of conflict resolution students. It seems to be the perfect fit for my interests and passions, and to resonate so strongly with my current projects and future goals. I feel so affirmed by this letter: so honored and so motivated!

I haven't made my final-final decision yet, mostly because of the question of finances. I haven't heard yet about a Graduate Teaching Fellowship I applied for, which will cover my tuition and a portion of my living expenses in return for my work as a teaching assistant, research fellow, and project manager with the Savage Committee for International Relations and Peace. Being an out-of-state student, I have to be conscious of the cost of education, and a GTF position would be the perfect solution. However, it is no longer the only solution. The Conflict Resolution program has offered me a scholarship for my first year of study, for which I am exceptionally grateful.

As I'm writing this, I am trying to balance my need for rational decision making with my gut knowledge that there is no way I'll be turning down the CRES program. There, it's written: I will be a CRES student next year!

Along with the acceptance letter, I received a preliminary schedule of my summer and fall classes. The CRES program has a slightly strange schedule: it begins at the same time as the Law School, so my orientation to the program will be on Friday, August 20th, with the first day of classes on August 23rd. Then fall term begins September 27th along with the rest of the University.

The summer term includes two classes: "Philosophy of Conflict" with Professor Cheyney Ryan, and a Mediation Training program during two weekends. This term runs for approximately a month, with classes three days a week. Professor Ryan is already a friend of mine from my work with the Savage Committee and Sister Helen, but I have never had the chance to take a class from him. He is a professor of philosophy, focusing on theories of conflict, war, peace, and ethical social constructs. What a perfect introduction to a program on conflict resolution! The Mediation Training will be a hands-on program to provide us with the tools for dispute mediation between individual and groups. This will also be a foundation for future training in facilitation and negotiation.

During fall term we will be taking five courses:

"Perspectives on Conflict Resolution" with Professor Jane Gordon

"Research Methods" professor TBA

"Adjudication and the Courts" with Professor Weinr

"Negotiation, Bargaining, and Persuasion" with Professor Micheal Moffitt

"Psychology of Conflict Resolution" with Professor Tint

Does this line-up look as wonderful to you as it does to me?

All classes will be taken with the full cohort of first year CRES students. I have a wonderful feeling about being part of a group like that: approximately twenty-seven students with the same classes and similar interests, moving through the two-year program together. We are Cohort 6, the sixth year of Conflict Resolution Masters students at the University of Oregon.

It feels more and more like things are falling into place. I have my acceptance letter, complete with my fall schedule! I bought my graduation cap and gown on Friday and will have my diploma in hand on June 14th, ready for a two month vacation and then this next step in my studies. My thesis is progressing. Hopefully I will know about the GTF position within the next week and a half.

Finally, finally I have an answer to that scary question, "What will you be doing in the fall?" I'll be studying conflict resolution with a cohort of my peers, preparing for a life of work in mediating conflict, living in this city that I love, working toward my future.

The acceptance letter concludes, "We look forward to your being a part of our program."

I couldn't agree more.