The campus community is invited to attend a guest presentation on the important topic of intractable conflicts.
Michael Pratt, PhD, O’Connor Professor in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, will present “United We Fall and Divided We Stand?: Unconventional Lessons for Addressing Intractable Conflicts.”
2-3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 28
Art & Design Building, Room 1104
Pratt will speak about conflicts between groups that are not only long-lasting, but difficult to move beyond (i.e. political, religious, etc.). He will discuss how such conflicts come about and why groups, at some level, may even be invested in keeping them going. He also draws upon his own research to offer unconventional lessons he has learned about successfully managing these types of conflicts.
Jill Schreiber, PhD, and Jayme Swanke, PhD, assistant professors of social work, are coordinating Pratt’s visit, through CAS’ Targeted Funding Initiative, which is supporting projects of faculty development and innovation. They emphasize the broad appeal of Pratt’s presentation topic, as his background includes experience and expertise of interest to social work, psychology and business, as well as other fields.”
“When people’s identity is tied to “I am not them,” it makes it difficult to mediate and come together to find solutions to issues,” Schreiber said. “Dr. Pratt’s visit will offer a different way of theorizing or framing how to get along and communicate with people who may be different than you, in multiple contexts.”
Contact Schreiber at
jischre@siue.edu or Swanke at
jswanke@siue.edu with any questions.
