SARA COBB

INSTITUTE FOR CONFLICT ANALYSIS AND RESOLUTION
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
MSN 4D3
ARLINGTON, VA 22201
Phone: (703) 993-4453 Fax: (703)-993-1302
E-mail: scobb@gmu.edu

Sara Cobb Bio

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Communication University of Massachusetts - Amherst. 1988

M.Ed. Counseling University of Puget Sound. 1980

B.A. English (Honors) Albertus Magnus College. 1973

PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE

Director and Associate Professor, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, (ICAR) George Mason University. 2001-present.

Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, (ICAR) George Mason University. http://www.gmu.edu/departments/ICAR/. Responsibilities include: (1) provide strategic direction to ICAR’s research agenda; (2) support fundraising including research grants and major gifts; (3) design partnerships and alliances with public and private sectors that support strategic development; (3) manage staff and programmatic budgets; (4) teach courses (narrative research methods, global terrorism); (5) conduct original research on conflict dynamics; (6) support the development of Mason, as an institution, via participation in university-wide administration, fundraising, and programmatic development.

Executive Director, Program on Negotiation, (PON) Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA. http://www.pon.harvard.edu/. 1999-2001.
Responsibilities include: (1) Intellectual leadership, coordinating and facilitating research collaboration for graduate students, junior and senior affiliated faculty, monitoring and improving the quality of training programs; supporting development of graduate education in negotiation theory and research; and creating a global resource of materials for scholars and practitioners in dispute resolution. (2) Program administration and financial management. (3) Steward leadership for the ongoing development and implementation of the strategic plan of PON.

Lecturer MIT: Department of Urban Planning.
Develop and teach graduate a course in dispute resolution.

Associate Dean, Human & Organization Development Program, The Fielding Institute, Santa Barbara, CA. http://www.fielding.edu/. 1995-1998
Responsibilities included: Program administration of an electronic mediated asynchronous learning environment, including budgetary management, curriculum development, admissions, as well as participation in the design and management of the electronic learning environment. Faculty responsibilities included academic evaluation of student dissertations, teaching graduate courses in qualitative research and conflict management, scholarly research and publication, as well as the development of an on-line certificate program in Conflict Management for managers and organizational change agents. Institutional responsibilities have included Institutional Curriculum Coordinator; Chair of Research Ethics Committee, Member of Academic Policy Committee, Member of the Budget and Finance Committee.

Trainer/Consultant: President, Dialogue International. 1994-1999
Conflict Management & Organizational Change consultation and training for corporations, banks, accounting firms, judicial systems, school systems, and hospitals.

Visiting Assistant Professor, Law & Society Program, University of California, Santa Barbara. 1993-1995
Courses taught: Law & Society I, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Law & Violence.

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara. 1993-1995
Courses taught: Conflict & Communication, Media & Society.

Consultant/Mediator. 1993-1995
Private Practice in mediation and conflict management facilitation with families and organizations.

Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Connecticut. 1991-1993
Courses taught: Gender & Communication, Conflict & Communication, Discourse & Discrimination, Organizational Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Media Effects, Introduction to Communication Processes.
Consultant/Mediator
Mediated a multi-system racialized dispute in the public sector; maintained practice as a family mediator.
Member: University of Connecticut Diversity Committee; conducted qualitative research using focus groups with faculty and student groups.
Research Faculty
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, MA.

Visiting Assistant Professor. 1990-1991
Department of Communication, State University of New York, Albany.
Courses taught (undergraduate.): Conflict Resolution, Theories of Human Communication, Interpersonal Communication; (graduate.): Qualitative Methods, Theories & Concepts in Interpersonal Communication.

Research Project Manager. 1989-1990
Department of Legal Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Responsible for managing a FRDR Grant ($90,000) to study the practice of neutrality in mediation (with Janet Rifkin as Principal Investigator). Developed the grant proposal, conducted research, wrote and presented research papers and monitored budget, all in collaboration with Professor Rifkin.

Visiting Assistant Professor. 1988-1989
Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
1988-1989. Course Director, 10 sections Interpersonal Communication;
Graduate Instructor-Comm 613: Theories & Concepts of Interpersonal Communication.

Research Assistant for Department Chair; Undergraduate Instructor.
1985-1988 Interpersonal Communication University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Therapist: Private practice with families, couples and individuals.

Graduate Instructor. 1984-1985
Antioch University, Keene, NH. Introduction to Family Therapy. Instructor
Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, MA: Introduction to Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Human Development

Family Therapist. 1982-1984
Youth & Family Services, Antioch, CA. Provided therapy for individuals, couples and families; designed and wrote grant proposals for equipment and services.
Coordinator of Clinical Services, Family Institute of San Francisco. Created and implemented services for adolescents and their families.

Director, Title 1. 1981-1982
Coordinator of Clinical and Academic Programs, Greenhill School, Chehalis, WA. Worked with the State Office of Institutional Instruction to develop programs to meet the academic and therapeutic needs of juvenile felons.

English Teacher. 1973-1976
Madison High School, Madison, VA. Designed curriculum and taught 10th grade English to African-American students in the first years after enforced integration in Virginia.

PUBLICATIONS

Cobb, S. (2005) A developmental approach to “turning points”” Towards an ethics for negotiation practice. Accepted for publication in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review.

Cobb, S. (2004). Fostering coexistence in identity-based conflicts: Towards a narrative approach. In A. Chayes and M. Minow (Eds.), Imagine Coexistence. Jossey Bass: San Francisco: pp. 294-310.

Cobb, S. (2001). Creating sacred space: Toward a second-generation dispute resolution practice. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 28(4):1017-1031.

Cobb, S. (1998). Special Issue: Private Pain, Public Entertainment. Human Systems: The Journal of Systemic Consultation and Management. Volume 8(3-4). (Guest Editor).

Cobb, S. (1998). The public spectacle of private pain: The social construction of violence and community. Human Systems. 8(3-4):251-274.

Cobb, S. (1997). The domestication of violence in mediation. Law & Society Review, 31(3):397- 440. (Refereed).

Cobb, S. (1997). Dolor Y paradoja: la fuerza centrifuga de las narraciones de mujeres victimas en un refugio para mujeres golpeadas. In M. Pakman (Ed.), Constructiones de la Experienca Humana, Volume II. Gedisa: Spain.pp.17-62.

Cobb, S. (1997). Transcribing the body and materializing the subject: Women's victim narratives in penalty phase testimony. In M. Huspek & G. Radford (Eds.), Transgressing Discourses: Communication and the Voice of the Other. Albany: SUNY Press. pp.195-230. (Refereed).

Weingarten, K., & Cobb, S. (1995). Timing disclosure sessions: Adding a narrative perspective to clinical work with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Family Process, 34:257-269. (Refereed).

Cobb, S. (1994). The Art of Reframing in Mediation (video). Southern California Mediation Association.

Cobb, S. (1994). A critique of critical discourse analysis: Deconstructing and reconstructing the role of intention. Communication Theory, 4(2):132-152. (Refereed).

Cobb, S. (1994). Theories of responsibility: The social construction of intentions in mediation. Discourse Processes, 18(2):165-186. (Refereed).

Cobb, S. (1994). A narrative perspective on mediation: Towards the materialization of the "storytelling" metaphor. In J. Folger & T. Jones (Eds.), New Directions in Mediation: Communication Research and Perspectives. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. pp.48-66.

Cobb, S. (1993). Toward an aesthetics of violence: A comment on Feldman's "The Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body in Northern Ireland (review)." Polar: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 16(3):57-60.

Cobb, S. (1993). Violence invaginated: The semiotics of mass arrest in Chile. Law & Critique, 14(2):131-154. (Refereed).

Cobb, S. (1993). Empowerment and mediation: A narrative perspective (commissioned by National Institute for Dispute Resolution). Negotiation Journal, 9(3):245-259. (Refereed).

Cobb, S. (1992). The Politics of Discourse in Mediation (video). Harvard Law School, Clearinghouse Publications.

Cobb, S. (1991). "Los Conflictos: La Neutralidad Imposible." Alternativas en Psicoterapias, Ano 1, Numero 2, Octubre De 1991.

Cobb, S., & Rifkin, J. (1991). Practice and paradox: Deconstructing neutrality in mediation. Law & Social Inquiry, 16(1):35-62. (Refereed).

Rifkin, J., Millen, J., & Cobb, S. (1991). Toward a new discourse for mediation: A critique of neutrality. Mediation Quarterly, 9(2):151-164. (Refereed).

Cobb, S. (1991). Resolucion de conflictos: Una nueva perspectiva. Acta Psiquiatrica & Psicologica de America Latina, 37(1):31-36. (Refereed).

Cobb, S., & Rifkin, J. (1991). Neutrality as a discursive practice: The construction and transformation of narrative in community mediation. In S. Silbey & A. Sarat (Eds.), Law Politics & Society, 11. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. pp.69-91. (Refereed).

Rifkin, J. & Cobb, S. (1990). Executive Report: The Social Construction of Neutrality in Mediation. Fund for Research on Dispute Resolution.

Cobb, S. (1988). Toward a Hegemonic Analysis of Discourse: The Concept of Power in Family Therapy (Ph.D. dissertation). University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Cobb, S. (1987) "Toward a Hermeneutic Understanding of International Conflict" (J. Rose, Ed.), Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Cybernetics and Systems, Cybernetics and Systems: A Way Ahead London. London: Thales Publications.

PRESENTATIONS
& WORKSHOPS

Papers Presented:

“Turning Points in Negotation Process.” Presented to Association for Conflict Resolution, Sacramento, CA, September 2004.

“Conflicts in Everyday Life.” Forum Barcelona, 2004.

“Irony as an Ethics for Negotiation Pragmatics: A Developmental Approach to Turning Points.” Presented to the Critical Moments Seminar, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, November 2003.

“Witnessing in mediation: Inquiry and the evolution of narrative,” Yale Law School, April 2002.

"Philanthrophy and family conflict: A narrative change model. Presented to a workshop for development officers for philanthropic institutions." Washington, DC. January 2002.

"Liminal spaces in negotiation processes: Crossing relational boundaries and interpretative thresholds in a family business negotiation." Presented to Psychoanalysis and Negotiation Seminar, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, November 2001.

"Fostering coexistence within identity based conflicts." Presented to Imagine Coexistence Conference, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Boston, MA. October 2001.

"Humanizing Human Rights" (with A. Wasunna). Law & Society Association, Miami, Florida, 2000.

"Piercing Communication Barriers in Mediation." Presented to the American Bar Association, 2000.

"Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Circular Questioning as Conflict Intervention," American Bar Association, Boston, MA. 1999

"Rethinking Human Rights Discourse: The Dissolution of Subjectivity," Western Political Science Association, San Francisco, CA. 1996.

"Transcribing the Body and Materializing the Subject: Women's Victim Narratives in Penalty Phase Testimony," Law & Society Association, Toronto, 1995. [Published in M. Huspek & G. Radford, (1997),Transgressing Scientific Discourses: Communication and the Voice of the Other. Albany: SUNY Press.]

"Human Rights Exhiled," American Sociological Association, Los Angeles, CA. 1994.

"Narrative Complexity and Moral Transparency in Penalty Phase Narratives," Law & Society Association, Phoenix, 1994.

"Ethics and Constructionism: The Regulation of Violence and Subjectivity," Inquiries Into Social Constructionism Conference, University of New Hampshire, Durham, 1993.

"Violence Invaginated: The Semiotics of Mass Arrest in Chile," Law & Society Association, 1993. (Published in Law & Critique).

"The Domestication of Violence in Mediation: The Social Construction of Disciplinary Power in Law," Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School 1992; Law & Society Association May 1992. (Published in Law & Society Review).

"The Social Construction of Intentions in Narrative: Power and Position in Discourse," International Communication Association, May 1992. (Earlier drafts presented to 10th Annual Conference on Discourse Analysis, Philadelphia, 1988; published in Communication Theory).

"Theories of Responsibility: The Social Construction of Intentions in Mediation," Roundtable on Law & Semiotics, Reading, PA. (Published in Discourse Processes).

"From Terrorism to Solidarity: A Transformation of an Oppressive Discourse in Rural Colombia" (with W. Pearce, C. Cano, & S. Freeman), Speech Communication Association, 1991.

"Resolucion de conflictos: Una perspectiva postmoderna." Presented to Seminario Sobre Resolucion de Conflictos, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia. (Published in ACTA Psiquiatrica & Psicologai de America Latina.)

"Neutrality as Discursive Practice: The Construction and Transformation of Narrative in Community Mediation" (with J. Rifkin), Law & Society Association, 1990. (Published in Law, Politics and Society).

"Individuality, Intentionality and Power: A Second-Order Cybernetic Perspective" (with V. Cronen), American Society of Cybernetics, Virginia Beach, VA, 1989.

"Episode-Work: The Management of Meaning in Confirming and Disconfirming Communication" (with W. Pearce), Speech and Communication Association, 1986.

"Ceremonial Discourse: From Debate to Dialogue" (with D. Carbaugh, V. Chen, & J. Shailor), Kaleidoscope Committee, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1986.

Invited Lectures/Courses

“Transformation of Conflict Narratives.” Invited by the Baton Rouge Family Mediation Council. September 2004.

"Narrative Approaches to Mediation." Atlanta Bar Association. 2000.

Healing Stories in Family Business Conflicts. Fox Learning Academy, Park City, Utah, 2000.

"Introduction to Negotiation and Mediation in Business," Centro Latino Americano de Mediacao e Arbitragem, Sao Paulo, 1998.

"Negotiation in the Context of Mercosur," FIESP, Sao Paulo, 1997.

"Circular Model of Conflict Management," CERENEC, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1996.

"Talking Transformation," Simmons Institute for Leadership and Change, Boston, 1995.

"Public Policy Mediation," INTERFAS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1994.

"Narrative Politics in Mediation," Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, 1993.

"Mediating Conflicts," Center for Family Therapy, Barcelona, Spain, 1993.

"Power, Neutrality and Ethics in Mediation: A Storytelling Perspective," Judicial Council of California, Monterey, 1993.

"Questioning the Orthodoxy: How the Mediation Process Frames Disputes," National Conference, Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution, Pittsburgh, PA, 1992.

"Legal Narratives," Foundation Retono & INTERFAS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1992.

"Deconstructing Conflict: Reconstructing Relationships," INTERFAS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1992.

"The Practice of Neutrality," Program in Negotiation, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, 1992.

"Empowering Families in Divorce Mediation," La Caxia Conference on Family Mediation, Barcelona, Spain, 1992.

"Neutrality as Discursive Practice," INTERFAS, Argentina, 1991.

"The Politics of Mediation: The Production and Transformation of Narratives in Discourse," Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, 1991.

"Gender, Culture and Neutrality: Deconstructing Dispute Resolution," National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution, Charlotte, NC, 1991.

"Conflict Intervention as Storytelling," Neilson/Kronick Lecture in Conflict Resolution, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1991.

"Narrative Representation in Families: A Poststructural Perspective on Storytelling," Northampton Family Institute, Northampton, MA, 1990.

"Neutrality: Managing Conversations in Mediation," Center for Human Development, Springfield, MA, 1989.

"El Maneja de Neutralidad en Resoluciones de los Conflictos," Instituto Nicargaruenses de Sociedad & Bienstar, Managua, Nicaragua, 1989.

"Systemic Intervention with Battered Women," Women's Services Center, Pittsfield, MA, 1989.

"The Practice of Neutrality in Conflict Resolution," Psychiatric Grand Rounds, Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, MA, 1989.

"Neutrality Revisited: Designing Guidelines for Practice," Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution, National Conference, Washington, D.C., 1989.

"The Social Construction of Neutrality in Mediation," Massachusetts Association for Mediation Programs, Boston, 1989.

"Reflexive Discourse," American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Massachusetts Chapter, Northampton, 1989.

"Second-Order Feminism," Northampton Family Institute, Northampton, MA, 1989.

"The Language of Gender in Family Therapy," Northampton Family Institute, Northampton, MA, 1988.

"The Social Construction of Reality, Part 1 & 2, Studio de Psicoterapia, Universita degli Studi de Modena, Italy, 1986-1987.

"General Systems Theory, Part 2," Northampton Family Institute, Northampton, MA, 1986.

Grants

Principal Investigator: “Stakeholder Analysis in the Mirador Basin” funded by the Nature Conservancy: $60,000

Principal Investigator: “Analysis of Healing Transformation,” with Baruch Bush @ Hofstra University. $10,000

PROFESSIONAL
MEMBERSHIPS,
AWARDS AND
SERVICE

American Psychological Association, "Psychotherapy with Women Award, in Recognition of Substantial and Outstanding Contributions to the Theory, Practice, and Research of Psychotherapy with Women," APA, Div. 35, August 1995.

Member, Law & Society Association, Dissertation Prize Committee 1999
Chair, Law & Society Association Article Prize Committee, 1998.
Editorial Advisory Board, Law & Society Review, 1994-1996.

Memberships: Law & Society Association, Association for Conflict Resolution

LANGUAGES

English: First language
Spanish: Fluent