This session will focus on a new project of the CUNY Dispute Resolution Consortium titled, Conflict Awareness and Management Training through Bicultural Lens for Asian American Students. The presenters will discuss how the project will create a culturally-relevant conflict resolution curriculum which will provide Asian American students at CUNY with crucial conflict resolution skills vital for a culturally diverse society. As mediation and conflict resolution processes gain increasing acceptance and viability in American society and as a critical mass of Asian American students grows in New York City and the country, this project will fill an important gap.
Grounded in the Asian American bicultural experience, this project will provide participants with skills that will better equip them to handle conflicts within themselves and with others in their environment. The unprecedented training course has the potential of providing Asian American college students, many of whom are immigrants, with crucial skills that can be utilized on campus, in their future careers, and at home. Project participants will learn effective communication skills in conflict situations and processes that enable them to handle conflicts more effectively. Specific attention will be given to foci that constitute critical requirements of an effective mediator and especially, one in bicultural contexts.
Maria R. Volpe, Ph.D. is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Dispute Resolution Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice - City University of New York, and serves as Convener of the CUNY Dispute Resolution Consortium, a university-wide project funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. She teaches dispute resolution courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels; mediates conflicts in educational settings; conducts dispute resolution skills training for a wide range of groups. Her current research focuses on police use of mediation, dispute resolution in educational settings, and ADR Responses to 9/11. Dr. Volpe received her Ph.D. from New York University where she was an NIMH Fellow.
Marion Yuen, president of The MYA Group, is a communication advisor, researcher and mediator. A skilled convenor and facilitator, Marion brings together diverse audiences and provides them with platforms for open, efficient face-to-face information exchange. She has moderated numerous focus groups, assisting organizations in clarifying their objectives and implementing initiatives. Marion has practiced mediation in a variety of settings. She serves as a mediator for the New York County Supreme Court (Commercial Division), United States Postal Service, Internal Revenue Service, Brooklyn & Manhattan Mediation Centers, and NASD Dispute Resolution. Marion holds master's degrees in Communications from Columbia University Teachers College and in Biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in Physics from Wellesley College.
