Award Criteria:

NYSDRA’s Annual PeaceBuilder Award was established in 1996 to honor individuals and organizations that have promoted the field of alternative dispute resolution. Selection of recipients is based on such criteria as promoting the welfare of society as a public official, community volunteer or social service organization in support of a peaceful community, and advocating for peaceful means for resolving conflict. The award should also reflect contributions global in scope (national or international).

Past Recipients:

2007 – Louise Diamond, Ph.D.
Ms. Diamond is an educator and consultant whose life has been devoted to helping people live in peace. She is the co-founder and President Emeritus of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy in Washington, D.C., where she worked as a peace builder in places of violent conflict around the world. Ms. Diamond is also the founder of The Peace Company, seeking to make peace practical, popular, and profitable while showing that peace is good business. She has recently founded Where Peace Begins, a company dedicated to galvanizing a movement for a culture of peace.

2006 – Robert Baruch Bush and Joseph P. Folger
Those who have been involved with transformative mediation are sure to be very aware of Robert A. Baruch Bush and Joseph P. Folger. The Promise of Mediation, a landmark treatise on transformative mediation, was co-authored by our award recipients. Without a firm foundation in human morality - in empowerment and recognition - problem solving can degenerate into little more than another form of human manipulation, no matter how well intended. The Promise of Mediation outlined a framework for transformative mediation. In this work, the authors proposed that mediation’s greatest potential lies not in the traditional area of problem solving, but in the transformation of the participants themselves:
[T]he mediation process contains within it a unique potential or transforming people—engendering moral growth—by helping them wrestle with difficult circumstances and bridge human differences, in the very midst of conflict. This transformative potential stems from mediation’s capacity to generate two important effects, empowerment and recognition. In simplest terms, empowerment means the restoration to individuals of a sense of their own value and strength and their own capacity to handle life’s problems. Recognition means the evocation in individuals of acknowledgement and empathy for the situation and problems of others. When both of these processes are held central in the practice of mediation, parties are helped to use conflicts as opportunities for moral growth, and the transformative potential of mediation is realized.

The transformative model of mediation is now a widely recognized and utilized approach in the filed of interpersonal relationships.

Robert A. Baruch Bush, a graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, is the Rains Distinguished Professor of Alternative Dispute Resolution at Hofstra University School of Law. In this capacity, Professor Bush teaches several courses and seminars on mediation and ADR, as well as a first-year course in Torts. Professor Bush has authored numerous articles and works on mediation and ADR, including an award-winning study of mediator ethics entitled The Dilemmas of Mediation Practice. He is a regularly featured speaker and panelist at international, national and regional conferences and programs relating to ADR.

In addition to his teaching and writing endeavors, Professor Bush has been involved in a wide array of research and consultancy activities. For example, he has directed two major research projects on mediation, each funded by the Hewlett and Surdna Foundations, which have engaged more than 50 mediation experts to work on enhancing the field’s resources in key areas of practice, training, policy and research. Professor Bush’s consultancy resume includes assistance to court and school systems, the Hewlett Foundation’s Conflict Theory Center Program and the designing of a nationwide training program on mediating workplace conflicts for the United States Postal Service.

Joseph P. Folger, a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin, is a Professor of Adult and Organizational Development at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In this capacity Professor Folger conducts research and teaches in the areas of conflict management, third-party intervention, group processes and interpersonal communication.

Professor Folger has authored numerous articles and works on mediation, including his co-authorship of the award-winning text WorkingThrough Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups and Organizations (with M.S. Poole and R.K. Stutman). He has delivered keynote addresses at many regional, national and international conferences.

Professor Folger’s endeavors as an advisor, consultant and conflict intervener, in both the public and private sectors, are extensive. For example, he has provided such services to organizations as diverse as the Center for Conflict Resolution (in Madison Wisconsin), the New Zealand Tenancy Mediation Program, the US Postal Service and Merrill Lynch. In 1993, Professor Folger was the Program Chair for the National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution. He is currently a senior consultant with Communication Research Associates where he specializes in executive coaching, team building/facilitation and communication skills training.

In addition to co-authoring The Promise of Mediation and other works, Professors Bush and Folger co-founded the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, a nonprofit research center devoted to furthering the understanding and practice of mediation, in 1999. ISCT is now affiliated with a consortium of four universities, developing and disseminating resources for the field on all aspects of the transformative model.

2005 - Dr. Arun Gandhi
Born in 1934 in South Africa, Arun Gandhi is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, Arun experienced discrimination from both white and black youths. At the age of 12, he was sent to stay with his grandfather during a turbulent period in India’s struggle to free itself from British rule. Viewing firsthand the effects of his grandfather’s national campaign for liberation through nonviolent means, he was set on a course for life. He learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge.

Spring 2005 marked the 75th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s set out on a march to defy the Salt Laws to win India’s freedom the British monopoly. While focusing on defying the unjust salt laws he also attempted to make the people aware of the violence that was dominating their lives.

Arun Gandhi has followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and has made significant strides towards peaceful dispute resolution. After leading successful projects for economic and social reform in India, Mr. Gandhi came to the United States in 1988 to complete research for a comparative study on racism in America. In 1991, Arun and his wife, Sunanda, founded the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence located in Memphis, Tennessee The Institute’s mission is to foster understanding of nonviolence and to put that philosophy to practical use through workshops, lectures and community outreach programs. Many of the Institute’s educational programs are aimed at conflict prevention, anger management, diversity training, and relationship- and community-building.

Arun Gandhi is a cultural treasure, offering first hand insights on one of history’s most influential leaders. Arun Gandhi and his wife travel almost year-round all over the world speaking and teaching about nonviolence and promoting the work of the Gandhi Institute. The Institute is in communication with organizations dedicated to nonviolence worldwide, and Arun's nationwide lecture series makes thousands aware of nonviolence and has spurred the creation of new nonviolence groups throughout the country.

2004 - Gillian Martin Sorensen
Gillian Martin Sorensen, Senior Adviser at the United Nations Foundation, is a national advocate on matters related to the United Nations and the United States-United Nations relationship. From 1997 to 2003, she served as Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations on appointment by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. She was responsible for outreach to civil society including non-governmental organizations around the world, and was the contact point for the Secretary-General in relations between the UN and parliamentarians, the academic world, religious leaders and other groups committed to peace, justice, development and human rights. As a peace builder, her contributions in promoting the welfare of society and in advocating peaceful means for resolving conflicts, reflects contributions that are global in scope. [more info]

2003 - Dr. Howard Zehr
Dr. Howard Zehr is an internationally-known practitioner, writer, lecturer and teacher in the field of criminal justice. He is considered one of the founders of the contemporary restorative justice movement and his ground-breaking book, Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice, is widely regarded as a standard in the field. Other books include: Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences and Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims. His latest book is called The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Howard Zehr was one of the pioneers in victim-offender mediation and continues to be involved in this and related work. One of his primary areas of concern is the role of victims in justice and especially in restorative justice programs. He and a colleague were appointed by the federal court in the Timothy McVeigh Oklahoma City bombing trial to assist attorneys in working with victims. Out of this developed a program of exchange visits of survivors from the U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya and the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Another outcome is an ongoing initiative to sensitize defense attorneys to victims' perspectives and to incorporate survivors' voices in death penalty cases. [more info]

2002 - John Wallach, Founder and President of “Seeds of Peace”
Throughout his career, John Wallach has been instrumental in furthering and implementing the peaceful resolution of conflict throughout the world. John Wallach's Seeds of Peace Program gives children from war-torn regions the opportunity to gain understanding, learn tolerance and through emotional healing help to ensure a more peaceful world. John Wallach founded Seeds of Peace in March 1993 to provide an opportunity for the children of war to plant the seeds for a more secure future. The program focuses on Arab and Israeli teenagers from ten nations in the Middle East but has also brought youngsters from Cyprus, the war-torn Balkans, India, Pakistan and other regions of conflict to its unique coexistence program. Seeds of Peace is a non-profit, non-political organization that helps teenagers from regions of conflict learn the skills of making peace. His awards include honorary doctorate degrees from Middlebury College and the University of Southern Maine; his selection as “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine; a UNESCO Peace Prize awarded in November 2000 and the prestigious Legion of Honor presented by His Late Majesty King Hussein of Jordan. In congratulating him, President Clinton said: “Your commitment to spreading the message of tolerance, justice and human rights has helped so many people. You have indeed planted the seeds for peace in the generation that will one day be leading our world.” [more info]

The Honorable Ann T. Pfau, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Management Support Judge of the New York City Criminal Court
Throughout her career, Judge Pfau has been instrumental in furthering and implementing alternative dispute resolution within the New York State court system. Ann Pfau personally completed a three-day training in mediation to increase her understanding and appreciation of the field, and has recognized ADR as an appropriate process in many forums. She has been instrumental in initiating an in-house mediation program for all non-judicial employees, and through her supervision, the Court has increased resources for ADR. Furthermore, under Pfau’s leadership and guidance, ADR has expanded into all courts for a variety of matters, ultimately fostering the widespread recognition and implementation of alternative dispute resolution throughout the New York State court system as an appropriate and accessible medium for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

2000 - Lt. Governor Mary O. Donohue, New York State Lieutenant Governor
While Lieutenant Governor Donohue served as Chair on the NYS Task Force on School Violence, she gathered together a broad representation of qualified individuals from across the state, including students, parents, teachers, school administrators, law enforcement experts, business leaders, mental health professionals and local elected officials. The Task Force investigated the best school violence prevention and intervention practices around the state and the nation. The Task Force concentrated on bringing the best methods of improving school safety to every school in every community in the state and to ensure that New York students are focused on meeting the states high academic standards rather than on personal safety. As a result, the recommendations of the Task Force represent a consensus on the actions that should be taken to reduce the potential for violence in our schools. Among these are, peer mediation and conflict resolution programs be included as one part of school safety plans and teaching youth to settle differences in non-violent ways.

1998 - Andrew Thomas, Executive Director of the Center for Dispute Settlement, Rochester NY
Since 1979, Mr. Thomas has held the position of Executive Director of the Center for Dispute Settlement. Over the past twenty years, he has participated in a number of mediations as well as trained hundreds of others to be mediators. He has served on many task forces, committees and training sessions to assist others in the field of dispute resolution, thus advancing its use in New York State as well as across the country. Statewide accomplishments include the assistance of the NYS Division of Human Rights in the development of its mediation program, membership on the NYS Unified Court System’s ADR task force, and the founding president of the NYS Dispute Resolution Association.

1998 - Center for Dispute Settlement, Rochester, NY
The Center for Dispute Settlement (CDS) is a not-for-profit corporation established in 1973 to promote the peaceful resolution of interpersonal and community disputes through alternative dispute resolution processes. CDS was the first dispute resolution center in New York State and the third in the country. Highlights of CDS’ accomplishments in the first decade of their inception include training faculty at Harvard Law School, training staff of the Kansas City Dispute Settlement Center and designing and implementing the juvenile mediation program in Monroe County Family Court. CDS has a wide range of accomplishments such as providing training and technical assistance to mediation centers across New York State, as well as providing training and technical assistance to the Mohawk Nation to design a community peacemaking process, developing a training partnership with the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution in Ottawa, and collaborating with the New York State Division of Human Rights to develop the employment and accommodation mediation project.

1997 - Dr. Thomas F. Christian
Dr. Thomas F. Christian, is a nationally renowned expert in community mediation and victim-offender reconciliation, Dr. Christian was the Director of the NYS Unified Court System's Community Dispute Resolution Centers Program from its inception in 1981 until his retirement in 1996. He is the former director of the Alternatives to Incarceration Project for the National Center for State Courts' southern regional office, which served twelve states. He was the director of the Minnesota Community Corrections Association and a former senior probation officer.

1996 - Chief Jake Swamp, Tekaronianeken Chief Jake Swamp
Tekaronianeken Jake Swamp, Sub-chief of the Wolf Clan for the Mohawk Nation, and Director of the Tree of Peace Society, received this prestigious award for his efforts in promoting peace within his culture and across the country. Since 1984, Chief Swamp has traveled nationally and internationally planting trees for peace and enlightening people about the culture and contributions of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. In addition, Chief Swamp has been involved in many activities over the years that speak highly to his commitment to peace. He has been at Wounded Knee, the Ganienkeh Land Reclamation, the Longest Walk, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Takeover, the Akwesasne Bridge Blockade, the Fourth Russell Tribunal in the Netherlands and as a delegate to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Significant of the Tree:

The tree was selected for the PeaceBuilder Award as it has become a symbol of peace in the Native American culture.

In an ancient time, the Haudenosaunee (pronounced Haw-deh-No-Saw-Nee) represented the original 5 nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and were in a cycle of violence and intertribal war. In that world of violence was born the Peacemaker. The Peacemaker traveled teaching peace.

At the Peacemaker’s urging, all the people gathered for the first Grand Council of the United Nations and buried the instruments of war at the base of the tree. Thus, Iroquois power was not founded on the force of arms, but rather on the arts of peace and reason.

The symbol of the tree and its roots continue to be the symbol of peace. We hope the NYSDRA PeaceBuilder Award will serve as a symbol for the award recipients' work and the work of others in the reduction of conflict and the promotion of a peaceful society.


Additional Resources:
2008 ADR Day and Award Luncheon