Mastering Collaborative Leadership: Registration Closing Soon for USU's 2026 Certificate Course

Utah State University's Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) Program, in partnership with the USU School of Social Sciences and Heravi Peace Institute, is offering its 2026 Collaboration Certificate Course, a seven-session online training in the art and science of collaborative problem-solving and conflict resolution. Led by EDR Director Danya Rumore and Associate Director Emily Gaines-Crockett, the course combines lectures, case studies, peer sharing, and simulation exercises to build practical skills in convening, facilitating, and sustaining multi-party collaborative processes. Participants gain techniques for identifying when a situation is ready for collaboration and for leading stakeholders through conflict toward shared solutions, with graduates invited into an ongoing Collaborative Leadership Network. For dialogue and deliberation practitioners, the course offers a rigorous, hands-on path to strengthening the facilitation and consensus-building capacities at the heart of NCDD's mission.

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Registration is closing soon for a training opportunity well suited to practitioners who convene and facilitate difficult conversations. Utah State University's Environmental Dispute Resolution Program, together with the USU School of Social Sciences and the Heravi Peace Institute, is offering its 2026 Collaboration Certificate Course, with applications due by August 10, 2026. A few seats have opened and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. The seven-session course runs from September through December, delivered virtually via Zoom, and carries eight continuing education units. Tuition is $2,000, with a limited number of scholarships anticipated for candidates from small NGOs, local government agencies, and tribal organizations who lack access to training funds. Admission preference goes to mid- and upper-level professionals working on environmental, natural resource, and public policy issues in the Mountain West, though qualified applicants from other regions are encouraged to apply.

The course teaches the practical craft of collaborative problem-solving through lectures, case studies, peer-to-peer exchange, discussion, and simulation exercises. Participants build skills for convening, facilitating, and sustaining multi-party processes, along with techniques for interest-based negotiation and collaborative process design. A recurring emphasis is discernment: learning to assess whether a given situation is actually ready for a collaborative approach, rather than assuming every conflict can be resolved the same way. Instruction is led by Danya Rumore, who holds a doctorate in environmental policy and planning and more than fifteen years of experience in stakeholder engagement and consensus building, alongside co-instructor Emily Gaines-Crockett, a mediator with a background in environmental science. Successful completion requires full participation, pre-work, and a situation assessment project.

​The skills this course develops (facilitation, convening, negotiation, and the judgment to know when collaboration will work) sit at the core of dialogue and deliberation practice. By training professionals to harness the co-creative potential of conflict and to design inclusive multi-stakeholder processes, the EDR Program strengthens exactly the kind of collaborative capacity that healthy democratic problem-solving depends on. Graduates also gain entry to the Collaborative Leadership Network, an ongoing community offering continued education, coaching, and peer support, extending the value of the training well beyond its final session. Practitioners positioned to lead within their organizations and communities should act quickly given the approaching deadline. To request application information or apply, visit https://artsci.usu.edu/social-sciences/edr/training/collaboration-certificate-course.