Melanie Emerson
M.A. in Conflict Resolution, 2003
Hometown: Tucson, AZ.
Over the past eight years, Melanie has worked in the public, private
and non-profit sectors of the conflict resolution field, primarily
in the environmental, public policy, and social justice arenas.
Currently, Melanie
is program director at the American
Friends Service Committee Arizona
Area program in Tucson where she focuses on community alternatives
to violence, socio-economic justice on the Arizona-Sonora border,
and peace building. At the U.S. Institute
for Environmental Conflict Resolution,
Melanie
handled
education and outreach, acting as an internal consultant to senior
staff on interactions with the media and the public during the
resolution
of highly
controversial issues. She was instrumental in planning and executing
the 2002 national environmental conflict
resolution conference,
bringing together
the most highly regarded practitioners in the field, government
agencies, tribes and resource users.
Melanie has worked in Panama,
El Salvador and Mexico on a wide-range
of conflict management projects. In 2001 the U.S. Agency for
International Development and the government of El Salvador contracted
Melanie to design and develop a national project model and pilot
justice center to provide
local, direct access to justice. The pilot project and the subsequent
Centers (which were modeled on the pilot) offer free, confidential
and accessible legal aid and mediation services to families,
farmers,
and citizens
in rural
areas. Melanie attended and presented at the 4th Annual World
Mediation Forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is finalizing her
first children’s
book on environmental conflict resolution.
According to Melanie, “This
Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution at Antioch University
McGregor provided me with solid theoretical
grounding and practical experience, helping me to improve existing
skills and acquire
new skills. One cannot understand the field while mired in theory
alone, yet one cannot progress and serve as an effective practitioner
without an
understanding and appreciation of previous findings and observations.
As a professional practitioner, I found the combination of theory
and practice in this program to be critical!”
