The Experience of Mediation

Faculty at UNM are not unlike faculty at other university campuses now or in the past: they occasionally experience conflict in the course of their everyday work. Their conflicts may involve colleagues in their department or other departments, department chairpersons, deans, office staff and both graduate and undergraduate students. Faculty conflicts may center on matters of perceived favoritism, perceived workload disparity, coalitions within a unit, communication breakdowns, entrenched patterns of interaction, philosophical differences, management styles, cultural and gender miscommunications, and contests of will, power and being right. Responses to conflict can be made in a constructive way, and can result in resolutions that are satisfactory to the parties involved. Early attention to conflicts can prevent further escalation that can be quite costly in both personal and financial ways.

Faculty Dispute Resolution      

The Faculty Dispute Resolution (FDR) Program is designed to provide alternative dispute resolution services to faculty seeking assistance with managing conflicts they encounter in their work experience. FDR services include mediation services, consultations, and mediation training. The long-term vision for FDR is a widespread network of trained UNM faculty who are committed to constructive conflict management.

An Faculty Advisory Board will work with the FDR director on matters pertaining to the development and conduct of the FDR program. The director will confer with this faculty oversight committee on a regular basis.   The FDR director will also participate in ongoing conversations with faculty groups (e.g., the AF&T committee, Faculty Senate, and AAUP) and will maintain good working relationships with campus support offices such as the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, CARS, and Legal Counsel.

The FDR director will work independently and will provide a report to the Provost in the form of summary data. Measures of effectiveness of the FDR program will include a summary report of the number of requests for services, the number of services provided, the number of mediations reaching agreement, anonymous feedback from parties who participate in mediations, and evaluation of mediation training sessions provided. No names appear in summary statements of FDR activities.

Mediation      

The FDR's primary means for addressing conflict management is the process of mediation. Mediation is a form of dispute resolution in which an impartial third party assists the faculty in discussion of their conflict and identification of issues, and in their generation of possible alternatives, and creation of a resolution.  The process is voluntary and confidential.  UNM faculty, administrators, deans and chairpersons who are professionally trained/certified mediators will serve as FDR mediators.  All FDR mediators maintain rules of confidentiality and uphold the mediators' professional code of ethics. The FDR director will provide training to UNM faculty who wish to become faculty mediators. For more information contact FDR Director, Jean Civikly-Powell, 277-3212 or jcivikly@unm.edu.

Contact UNM Faculty Dispute Resolution Program