NCR 603. Negotiation. 3 credits.

This course introduces students to negotiation as a method of conflict engagement. Students identify the theories, concepts, and skills necessary to negotiate in interpersonal, intergroup, and intragroup settings. The course provides students the opportunity to practice their negotiation skills in a variety of activities and exercises intended to strengthen their confidence as negotiators. The course emphasizes self-reflection by drawing special attention to students’ personal conflict styles and determining the strengths and shortcomings of those styles in negotiations.

NCR 618. Structural Injustice: Engaging Constructively with Demographic Change. 3 credits. (Same as PLS 540, SOC 540)

The 2040 Initiative Seminar examines the challenging issues that arise as changing demographics intersect with law and politics. Current demographic shifts include changes in the racial and ethnic makeup of the United States as well as the aging of the Baby Boom generation, continuing urbanization, growing economic inequality, evolving family patterns, and residential self-sorting of citizens. The course examines demographic trends, explores legal, political, and ethical issues related to these trends, and examines policy options and social changes to bring about more just and effective systems. The course identifies and builds skills for individuals to work toward equity in their own professional and personal lives.

NCR 619. Organizing for Justice and Solidarity in the 21st Century. 3 credits.

This course builds on the Structural Injustice class (NCR 618), offering insights, strategies, and skills for how to take action to dismantle systemic injustice through individual action and social movements. The class emphasizes how individuals, through civic organizing, can initiate and influence system-level transformation. Prereq: NCR 618.

NCR 620. Introduction to Conflict Engagement. 3 credits.

This course introduces students to the field of conflict engagement. It presents theoretical explanations of the causes of conflict and leads students to an identification and understanding of their response to and style of conflict engagement. There is a focus on explaining and distinguishing between a broad range of conflict engagement processes including negotiation, mediation, and facilitation, so that students will be able to apply the appropriate process to various types of conflict which they may encounter in their lives and practice.

NCR 622. Conflict Engagement and Leadership. 3 credits.

This course considers leadership through a conflict engagement lens. Conflict perspectives provide useful insights into traditional views of leaders and leadership. Insights into social groups and dynamics have shifted, however, away from a hierarchical and directive understanding of leaders. Understandings of complex systems and networks highlight a less centralized, more distributed type of leadership. Relationships and stories are the fabric of leadership, and we dive into these in the contexts of organizations and communities.

NCR 623. Online Dispute Resolution. 3 credits.

This course introduces students to the potential for utilizing technology to assist and to enhance conflict prevention, engagement, and resolution efforts based on developments in the field of Online Dispute Resolution over the past twenty years. Students learn and practice the skills necessary for leading conflict resolution process effectively beyond traditional geographical limitations. The course enhances students' capacity for effective online communication and engagement (e.g., telehealth, virtual group work, and intra-organizational communication).

NCR 624. Dynamics of Conflict Resolution and Engagement. 3 credits.

This course examines the fundamental nature of conflict: how conflict arises; the patterns it follows; the different levels at which it gets expressed; and the different ways in which people, communities, organizations, and societies understand and approach conflict. The course considers a range of theoretical approaches to conflict and conflict resolution and looks at particular dynamics that define the way in which conflict plays out. The course considers particularly how conflict is defined by the interplay of power, communication, and culture.

NCR 625. Systems Thinking in Conflict. 3 credits.

This course focuses on diagnosing conflict and designing conflict management systems in social settings such as families and organizations. It explores important characteristics of complex adaptive systems, including emergence and self-organization, and demonstrates how our ability to engage in conflict can be enhanced by our appreciation of these characteristics. Using this theoretical backdrop, the course examines how stakeholders can address conflict in the short term while creating informal and formal mechanisms to determine how best to prevent or address conflicts over time. The course also focuses on the role of the conflict specialist as a system designer, tasked with promoting the benefits of a conflict management system to diverse stakeholders and leading the process of designing, implementing, and evaluating the system in an organizational setting.

NCR 626. Culture, Gender and Power Differences in Conflict. 3 credits.

This course takes an interdisciplinary look at issues related to the role of culture, gender and other factors in conflict analysis and resolution. The course provides an overview of relevant theories and research from social psychology, anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines. Topics such as the meaning of culture and conflict from a cultural perspective, cross-cultural communication, stereotypes, and differences in attitudes toward racism, sexism and ethnicity are discussed. Additionally, the relationship between culture, gender, and oppression is discussed.

NCR 629. Organizational Collaborative Practice and Conflict Engagement. 3 credits.

In today’s competitive environment, organizations increasingly must cope with complexities, uncertainties, and conflict. The ability to build teams for collaborative work and to manage and learn from conflict effectively is critical in today’s organization. In this course students learn techniques and approaches for organizational teambuilding, conflict management, and process facilitation and consulting.

NCR 630. Health Care Collaboration and Conflict Engagement. 3 credits.

With a focus on practical application of process tools and systems design strategies, students learn effective conflict engagement techniques that can be integrated into clinical settings to improve clinical outcomes, reduce medical errors, reduce risk of lawsuit, increase patients’ trust in the healthcare system, and effectively manage legal and ethical issues that may arise.

NCR 632. Effective Conflict Engagement for Educational Leaders. 3 credits.

This course explores personal response to conflict as well as a variety of conflict interventions for elementary and secondary schools such as negotiation, mediation, facilitation, and formal hearing. The course addresses strategies for having difficult conversations with individuals or groups. Other topics include the restorative justice approach to discipline, special education mediation and IEP facilitation, and child custody conflicts between parents. P: DC.

NCR 633. Oral Narratives and Conflict: An Applied Interdisciplinary Approach. 3 credits.

This course applies foundational conflict engagement skills to an investigative setting. To achieve this, students identify a topic that they develop over the course of the semester. Students work one-on-one with the professor to produce an oral history/narrative interview. Students interview a person who has directly experienced a conflict or has knowledge of a historical conflictive event using oral history interviewing techniques. In this way, students practice many of the skills in the conflict resolution field that are applicable in many professional contexts such as framing open questions to elicit stories, active listening, and self-awareness. Students are also encouraged to share their thoughts with their peer researchers within the class discussion forums.

NCR 634. Mediation Process. 3 credits.

This online course introduces students to the theories, models, skills and techniques used in mediation - a major conflict engagement process. Students will be introduced to and given opportunities to practice various techniques used by mediators during the mediation process. Students will also consider the impact of various issues, including trust, forgiveness, culture, gender and power on the mediation process, the role of the mediator, parties and attorneys in mediation, the connection between mediator ethics and Jesuit values, and challenges which arise during mediation.

NCR 635. Facilitative Conflict Engagement. 3 credits.

In this course, students examine group process theories and the skills needed to facilitate groups of all sizes in a variety of settings. Characteristics of collaborative decision-making processes, participatory dialogues, and the value of diversity are explored. Students apply theory to practice through simulations, case studies and interactive group discussions.

NCR 652. The Application of Coaching within Conflict Resolution. 3 credits.

Coaching focuses on empowering people to discover their own answers, to articulate clear visions, and to pursue their goals with clarity and focus. Building on our people’s inherent strengths a coach can empower them toward positive change. This course provides a preliminary understanding of key coaching principles and their role in conflict resolution. The course also explores specific principles of coaching within various models Appreciative Inquiry, Positive Psychology, and Wellness. The course follows the standards of the International Coach Federation. This campus-based accelerated course is offered on a rotating basis.

NCR 690. Family Systems in Conflict. 3 credits.

This course focuses on the special nature of family conflict, some of the dynamics to be considered when dealing with families in conflict and the different approaches to intervention and engagement in family conflict by a third party.

NCR 720. Seminar: Special Topics in Conflict Resolution. 1-3 credits.

This course explores selected problems and topics in the conflict resolution field. Course content changes each semester as current and controversial issues emerge in the field. This course is offered on a rotating basis.

NCR 733. Practicum. 3-4 credits.

In consultation with the practicum faculty, students develop a practical field experience to further engage and apply their skills in a professional or organizational setting of their choice. Working with a site supervisor in the student's community, students demonstrate their ability to apply theory to practice and analyze situations using knowledge gained from previous coursework.

NCR 795. Directed Independent Study. 1-3 credits.

Students may arrange with an instructor to engage in a series of readings related to a specific topic and/or conduct research in an area approved by the department and under the direction of a faculty member. P: DC.