Sara Cobb (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University. As ICAR provides graduate and undergraduate degrees in conflict resolution, Dr. Cobb works to support both the production of original research and the integration between theory and practice. As faculty, she teaches theory, research and practice-based courses on negotiation and the transformation of disputes. In her role as Director, she provides liaison between ICAR and other private sector agencies/corporations, at national and international levels.

Through her research, she has specialized in the analysis of conflict narratives and has contributed to the critique of "neutrality" in conflict resolution processes. Dr. Cobb has published widely in communication studies and legal studies, supported by grants from the Ford Foundation and the UN High Commission on Refugees. She has held both administrative and academic positions at a variety of research institutions including Harvard Law School, University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Connecticut. She has consulted to a host of family-owned businesses in North and South America, as well as to public and private organizations, including UN High Commission on Refugees, La Caxia Bank, and Exxon. She has conducted training for the American Bar Association, Fox Learning Academy and a number of universities in Europe and Latin America. The blend of academic research, program development, and practice enables Dr. Cobb to offer both systematic critique of traditional methods for conflict intervention, as well as new methods for intervention that focus on the transformation of narratives in conflict processes.

Graduate Courses

Narrative Research Methods: Exploring the Link between Inquiry and Intervention
(CONF 695)

Advanced Research Methods II (CONF 812)

Integrating Theory, Practice and Method in Conflict Analysis (CONF 900)

Selected Publications

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

Cobb, S. 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. 2004.

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

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

Imagine Coexistence