The practice of mediation is largely unregulated throughout the United States. In contrast to more formalized professions, such as nursing, social work, law, medicine or accounting, mediators generally have a fraction of the training, have no required ethics code, and no minimum quality testing. Dr. Goetz will chronicle current efforts in voluntary mediator certification underway in California to raise the level of mediator education and training and require a binding ethics code to serve the public.

Dr. Goetz has trained hundreds of mediators during the last 7 years through the California State University system. Prior to developing the mediation program, he was the founding Dean and President of Concord Law School, the first nationally accredited online law school. Dr. Goetz advocates for a stronger sense of professionalism in the field of mediation, and recently co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Kalfsbeek the article “Serving the Public: The Case for Formally Professionalizing Court-... He currently serves as the co-chair of a Southern California Mediation Association Ad Hoc Committee on Voluntary Mediator Certification.

More information: Dr. Jack R. Goetz

Pattie Porter, LCSW, AAP is the President of Conflict Connections®, Inc. in San Antonio, TX. Pattie has worked extensively in the dispute resolution field for nearly 20 years providing mediation, team facilitation, negotiation training, and conflict management and abrasive leader coaching services to executives, businesses, government agencies and higher education institutions.

Tracy Culbreath received her Bachelors of Science from the second-largest university in the United States, the University of Central Florida, in Interpersonal-Organizational Communication. She is currently a graduate student at the University of Baltimore pursuing a Master’s Degree in Negotiation and Conflict Management. In 2012, Tracy joined the District Court of Maryland’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Office, and became a member of the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence (MPME). With an interest in Organizational Conflict, Tracy hopes to design conflict management systems for government agencies or private organizations post-graduation. Originally from Florida, in her free time Tracy explores the various gardens in the Mid-Atlantic region where she has resided for the past three years.