Professor Neil Katz, Ph.D., with doctoral students from left: Shannon Maurice, Angelica Coronel, Linda Kovack.
Faculty members, students, and alumni represented CAHSS’ Department of Conflict Resolution Studies at the Association for Conflict Resolution’s 2018 conference in Pittsburgh from Oct. 3-6.
The conference was attended by conflict resolution practitioners from around the country who work in academia, government, and the private sector. Joshua Weiss, a faculty member at Harvard Law School, delivered a keynote address on the topic “The Power of Place: Doing Conflict Resolution Differently.”
NSU faculty involvement included Professor Neil Katz, Ph.D., who presented “The Organizational Ombuds Phenomenon – Implications for Research, Teaching and Implementation” and was joined by doctoral students Linda Kovack, Shannon Maurice, and Angelica Coronel. The presentation highlighted the results of a three-year study of ombuds in the federal government and higher education institutions. Katz discussed the tangible and intangible benefits of organizations having an ombuds, such as increased productivity, decreased costs from absenteeism and litigation, and improved morale and retention. Maurice and Coronel conducted ombuds-themed version of Jeopardy and encouraged attendees to post on social media with the hashtag #supportombudsmanship.
Presentations by NSU doctoral students included April Coan on organizational conflict and perceptions of women in the U.S. military. Kimberly Cohane, also an Associate Director in NSU’s Division of Public Relations and Marketing Communications, presented on social media conflict. The presentation focused on the 2016 U.S. elections and the divisive effects created by fake political ads and posts by artificial bot accounts on Twitter.
