Summer Dispute Resolution Institute
Course Descriptions & Faculty

902 DISPUTE RESOLUTION (2 credits): A study of the major alternatives to litigation for the resolution of disputes including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and various other dispute resolution and court-annexed procedures that are designed as alternatives to litigation.

Professor Roberta Mitchell is the Director of Capital’s Litigation Clinic and has taught negotiation, mediation and other dispute resolution courses for more than 25 years. She is co-author of The Mediator Handbook; was a founder and board member of Community Mediation Services of Central Ohio; a co-founder of Capital’s Center for Dispute Resolution in 1984, and a principal in the development of the Dispute Resolution Foundation of Jamaica.

903 BUSINESS NEGOTIATION (2 credits): This on-line course is about the use of negotiation in the business environment with the emphasis on creatively reaching mutually satisfactory negotiated outcomes in business; the development of the skills and abilities necessary to successfully negotiate in various business and organization settings; the ability to identify problems, create solutions, innovate, and improve current practices in business negotiations.

Professor Larry Ray will administer this on-line course from his offices in Washington D.C. In 1977, he was selected as the first full-time director of the Columbus Night Prosecutor Mediation Program, he served as the staff director of the ABA’s Special Committee on Dispute Resolution for over 15 years, and he is nationally recognized as an author, teacher and lecturer in the ADR field.

904 NEGOTIATION (2 credits): Negotiation can be defined as the sharing of information and exchange of settlement proposals between disputing parties with the goal of reaching a mutually acceptable solution. The course will cover what is involved in becoming an effective negotiator including selection of an appropriate strategy for a particular negotiation, planning for a negotiation, implementing strategy, and selecting tactics

Professor Terrence Wheeler has vast ADR experience, including his service as president of the Association of Conflict Resolution ( ACR) in 2005-2006; associate director Ohio’s Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management; a lead negotiator in merger negotiations when ACR was formed; an ACR representative to the Joint Committee to Review the Model Standards of Conduct; and presently co-director and adjunct professor at Capital. His national reputation as an ADR teacher, trainer and service provider extends from the U.S. to Spain, Jamaica and the Virgin Islands.

905 GENERAL ARBITRATION (2 credits): Arbitration involves the use of a neutral third party who renders a decision. This course involves an examination of the use of binding and non-binding arbitration, compulsory arbitration, arbitration clauses, the Federal Arbitration Act, post-hearing processes for formal arbitration, and public policy issues.

Professor Darlene Chavers was a long standing commissioner of the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service. She provides mediation services in dispute neutral mediation and preventative mediation and provides education, advocacy and outreach to the labor/management community. She also assists parties who are in the collective bargaining process to avoid or minimize work stoppages.

910 MEDIATION (2 credits): Mediation is an out of court, structured process in which a neutral third party, called a mediator, helps disputing parties generate and evaluate options for reaching their own mutually acceptable agreement. This course approaches mediation from both the mediator and the mediation advocate’s perspective. Students will develop a sophisticated understanding of mediation as a settlement process through lecture, in class role-plays, reading assignments, and written analysis of mediation role-plays.

Professor Scot Dewhirst was a co-founder and has been co-director of the Center for Dispute Resolution at Capital since 1984. He also serves as an adjunct professor teaching mediation and negotiation courses since 1997. He was the director of the Columbus Night Prosecutor Mediation Program for 8 years; he co-authored The Mediator Handbook, and he also has co-produced 16 mediation and negotiation training videos. He has actively been involved in dispute resolution since 1977 as a mediator, arbitrator, public speaker, trainer, and program director. He was instrumental in the creation of Capital’s Certificate Program in Mediation and Dispute Resolution.

911 DIVORCE MEDIATION (3 credits): Mediation in the domestic/divorce arena combines a thorough understanding of the basic skills of mediation with the substantive knowledge of the relevant issues on divorce such as custody, visitation, support and property division. This course is developed to comply with the Ohio Supreme Court requirements for a 40-hour course. Non-Ohio registrants may want to determine whether the course meets the necessary educational requirements to comply with the standard divorce/domestic mediation certification in their home state. Students should complete a minimum of 12 hours in basic mediation training or education before enrolling in this course.

Professor LeeAnn Massucci is a full-time private attorney concentrating her practice in the domestic relations area. She received her JD with a concentration in Dispute Resolution from Capital University Law School after completing her first career as the women’s Tennis Coach at The Ohio State University. She is a member of the Capital University Law School Alumni Board and she brings real world practice experience to her role as professor of the Divorce Mediation course.

913 HEALTH CARE & DISPUTE RESOLUTION (2 credits): This course seeks to offer a framework for understanding dispute resolution in healthcare by providing a historical perspective on the American healthcare industry. It identifies major players and components of the current healthcare setting, highlights key components in healthcare ADR, underscores ethical considerations in healthcare, and anticipates future evolution of the field, including issues of mediating bioethical disputes in areas of medical care or its suspension, allocation of scarce recourses, death and dying, the interaction of family and health care providers.

Professor Jeanne A. Clement Ed.D., APRN-BC, FAAN, Associate Professor, Nursing and Psychiatry, Director, Specialty Program in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing, College of Nursing, The Ohio State University. Professor Clement was the inaugural professor to teach this course at Capital.

813 LABOR ARBITRATION (2 credits): The course will cover the origin and development of labor arbitration. Students will examine state and federal labor arbitration laws, arbitration rules, and major arbitration decisions along with education in the mechanics of the arbitration process and evidential and due process issues.

Professor Floyd Weatherspoon teaches Labor Law, Labor Arbitration, Employment Discrimination, ADR, and a seminar on African-American Males and the Law. He serves on a number of labor arbitration/ mediation panels and is an external administrative judge for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  Prior to joining Capital, he managed the Mediation and Settlement Program at Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). He is the founder of Capital’s seven year ADR Program for Minority Professionals .

907 MULTIDISCIPLINARY ADR: IMPACT OF CULTURE & GENDER ON NEGOTIATION & MEDIATION (2 credits): This course will be a highly interactive skill-based approach concerning communication messages that surround cultural and gender interaction in both negotiation and mediation. The student will learn how different cultures respond to conflict, uncertainty avoidance, direct and indirect communication, power distance and apologies.

Visiting Professor Nina Meierding is a national leader in the field of conflict resolution and has been providing training and mediation services for over 22 years.  She is a former president of the Academy of Family Mediators and served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Conflict Resolution and many other organizations.  Nina Meierding has assisted in the resolution of thousands of disputes and has conducted training throughout the world, including Sweden, Ireland, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, and India.