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COLLABORATION CERTIFICATE COURSE

Every year, the EDR Program offers our flagship Collaboration Certificate Course (CCC). The 7-session online course teaches the "art and science" of collaborative problem-solving through lectures, case studies, peer-to-peer sharing, discussion, and simulation exercises. The course is specifically designed for and targeted toward mid- and upper-level professionals working on environmental, natural resource, and public policy issues. Thanks to the ESRR Endowment Fund for the Wallace Stegner Center, we are able to keep tuition costs low.

Course participants acquire:

  • Awareness and skills to help them harness the co-creative potential of conflict and participate in multi-party collaborative processes;
  • Techniques for identifying opportunities for collaborative problem-solving, as well as skills for convening, facilitating, and sustaining collaborative efforts; and
  • Experience assessing whether a situation is ready for a collaborative approach.

Upon the successful completion of the course - which includes participating in all sessions, completing all pre-work assignments, completing a situation assessment project, and demonstrating sufficient mastery of the concepts - participants will receive a certificate of completion issued by the EDR Program. They also have the opportunity to join the EDR Program’s Collaborative Leadership Network, which provides opportunities for continued education, coaching, and peer-to-peer support.

The next Collaboration Certificate Course takes place September 26, 2024-January 16, 2025; session dates and topics are listed in the table below. The application cycle for the 2024-2025 course is now closed; we anticipate offering the course again in 2025-2026. Join our email list to be notified of our next course offerings.

APPLY HERE
For additional information, see the EDR Collaboration Certificate Course 2024 flyer or contact emily.crockett@law.utah.edu.

Session Dates & Times Content
Session 1 Sep 26, 2024 (9am-3pm) Introductions, expectations, and core skills
Session 2 Oct 9, 2024 (9am-5pm)
Oct 10, 2024 (9am-3pm)		 Introduction to collaboration and key concepts
Session 3 Oct 30, 2024 (9am-5pm)
Oct 31, 2024 (9am-3pm)		 Interest-based negotiation and other key skills for collaborative problem solving
Session 4 Nov 13, 2024 (9am-5pm)
Nov 14, 2024 (9am-3pm)		 Assessing opportunities for collaboration
Session 5 Dec 4, 2024 (9am-5pm)
Dec 5, 2024 (9am-3pm)		 Formal collaborative processes and collaborative process design
Session 6 Dec 18, 2024 (9am-5pm)
Dec 19, 2024 (9am-3pm)		 Facilitation skills, adaptive leadership, and self-leadership
Session 7 Jan 16, 2025 (9am-5pm) Graduation session — Situation Assessment Project presentations

Thanks to the generosity of the I.J. and Jeanné Wagner Charitable Foundation, we are able to offer a limited number of scholarships each year. These scholarships help us create diverse participant cohorts. We welcome additional scholarship support; please contact edrprogram@law.utah.edu.

What our graduates have to say:

“As someone who spent many years in school, I can say that the EDR Program Effective Natural Resource Collaboration short course is one of the best classes I have ever taken! I was interested in continuing my skill-building through this professional training and was blown away by how engaging and applicable the materials were. I did not expect to develop such strong partnerships with my peers via remote learning, and Danya and Nedra are so committed and passionate that it’s impossible not to dive right in! Thank you for this opportunity!”

Dr. Evelyn Pickering, Post-Doctoral Researcher (University of Arizona) on an NSF-Funded project on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation
“This EDR course on environment and natural resource collaboration provided me with valuable tools that have helped me expand my professional skillset around negotiation, collaboration, and facilitation. Additionally, I appreciated how the course helped me connect those skillsets to what I value in my personal life and understand how these concepts are as much a part of who I am as they are things that I do.”

Elisha Hornung, U.S. Forest Service
“This is a lifestyle change for me!  From now on I will be conducting situation assessments/readiness checks before convening major projects or any collaborative process.”

Laura Bolyard, National Park Service
“[I learned that] situation assessments are a key action before and during multiparty collaboration. This course really got me thinking and using well researched materials, studies, and applied theories while connecting with a great cohort of co-learners who’ve given themselves permission to keep learning.”

Laura Briefer, Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities
Learning facilitative practices and philosophy in the EDR Short Course has helped me immensely. Focusing on asking good questions and remembering that most people just want to be heard has been a revolutionary way to approach navigating conversations with people I love who process and communicate so differently than I do.”

Cassidy Jones, National Parks Conservation Association
“One crucial skill I got to practice during this course was learning how to be truly present and attentive; listening carefully and being inquisitive and empathetic regarding the interests and viewpoints of others." 

Keith Lawrence, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
“[The course taught me that] conflict just is, not really this giant monster I had been trying to avoid – instead it can be an opportunity to enact meaningful change.”

Jordan Katcher, Utah Community Development Office
"Not every situation is ripe for collaboration -- that was a great lightbulb moment for me in this course that I am taking directly into my work and life!”

Josh Johnson, Idaho Conservation League

Our Selection Criteria

All applications to the Collaboration Certificate Course (CCC) will be carefully considered. Preference is given to candidates who are:

  • Mid-to-upper career level professionals in environmental, natural resource, and/or public policy sectors
  • Working in Utah and/or the Mountain West
  • Positioned to exercise leadership within their organizations/communities
  • Positioned to benefit from the CCC training (e.g., they do not have extensive prior training in ADR, conflict resolution, etc.)
  • Able to bring diversity to the cohort (e.g., represent different interests, backgrounds, organizations, perspectives, etc.)
  • Able to attend all class sessions

We receive far more requests for scholarship funding than we can accommodate. Priority consideration is given to candidates who meet the above criteria and who also: 1) work for small NGO’s, small local government agencies, and/or tribal organizations; and 2) do not have access to training funds.