News from New York State Dispute Resolution Association

For more information contact: Daniel Merkt, 518-687-2240 ext. 204 and Sharon Fisher 607-967-4040

Outrageous Mediation Instruction Wins Acclaim from Colleagues and Students

Duke Fisher Receives Statewide honor for Misbehaving

ALBANY, NY (10/17/2007; 1308)(readMedia)-- The New York State Dispute Resolution Association (NYSDRA) has announced that the 2007 Lawrence P. Cooke Peace Innovator Award will be given to Mediator, Trainer and Activist Duke Fisher of Bainbridge, NY. The award will be bestowed to Mr. Fisher at NYSDRA’s Annual Conference on Friday, October 19, 2007 at the Holiday Inn Turf in Albany, NY.

Each year the award is bestowed upon an individual or organization for providing innovative leadership in the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) field. ADR focuses on bringing people together to make decisions under difficult circumstances and resolve conflict non-violently. Past winners have included visionary justices and educators from around the state.

“Duke Fisher’s imaginative training style keeps his audience wondering what he will do next,” says Lisa Hicks, Executive Director of NYSDRA.

Mr. Fisher started as a volunteer mediator with Catholic Charities Dispute Resolution Center for Chenango, Delaware, and Otsego Counties in 1988. Within a year he was hired as a mediation trainer and recruited by the New York State Office of ADR and Court Improvement Programs to design active training experiences to teach youth in schools and juvenile facilities how to resolve conflict nonviolently. “I have a reputation for doing whatever is necessary to take on tough topics in engaging ways.” Mr. Fisher says. “We use provocative film clips, drama groups, experiential learning exercises, and role play to make sure people have fun and come out of a training with usable skills.”

In 1998 Mr. Fisher and his wife Sharon founded Learning Laboratories (www.learninglaboratories.org), a private training and facilitation organization specializing in designing group learning experiences in conflict resolution and many other topic areas. He travels widely and is a sought after presenter for his often irreverent presentations. “People who are bored are not learning,” says Mrs. Fisher, while juggling two ringing phones and home schooling her two sons. “Duke’s enthusiasm for both social change and ridiculous fun is infectious. He believes that we must get a working comfort and even embrace vulgarity and bigotry if we are to do something about them.” Many of his training materials are currently being compiled in a book tentatively titled ‘Using Vulgarity to Resolve Conflict.’ “In mediation I encourage people to be real,” Mr. Fisher says. Once we know what is really going on, you might have a chance at finding answers that truly work.”

Learning Laboratories has organized mock keg parties, street theatre DWI drownings, and staged race riots to get to the heart of social issues. Mr. Fisher is a special professor of Law at Hofstra Law School where he trains students to facilitate parent/teen mediations. Mr. Fisher has brought many diverse learning experiences to schools and colleges, national conferences, hospitals and a wide range of agencies and organizations. “Bringing non-violent skills to law enforcement agencies or collaborative skills workshops to attorneys and Bar Associations is no simple task.” Fisher says, “There is just no way around the fact that if you are going to be effective in those environments, you have to be innovative.”

The New York State Dispute Resolution Association, Inc. (NYSDRA) is a private nonprofit professional membership organization committed to the promotion of quality conflict management and peaceful dispute resolution. Through leadership, education, promotion of professional standards and training, and development of innovative statewide programs, NYSDRA provides opportunities for people, communities, organizations and businesses to effectively respond to conflict.

-30-