ICM partners with Center for Nonprofits to award scholarship to CASA director
Janel Shoun |
Laura Swanson, executive director of Wilson County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), has been selected to
receive the first scholarship to Lipscomb University’s Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), in partnership with the Center for Nonprofit Management (CNM).
Swanson will receive a $36,000 scholarship to complete a Master’s of Arts in conflict management at Lipscomb University. She will start working toward her degree in January as part of the ICM’s inaugural class of master’s students. Fifteen students are expected to participate in this unique 36-hour program, which includes courses on negotiation, mediation, arbitration, psychology of conflict, public policy and more.
The Center and Institute have come together to provide this annual scholarship, designed to make conflict management training more accessible to nonprofit organizations, which often face unique funding challenges.
“Every day we see examples of nonprofit organizations working to eliminate or alleviate conflict in our society, through financial assistance, education or enrichment, so we wanted to provide a special opportunity for a nonprofit manager to obtain our master’s degree,” said Larry Bridgesmith, ICM executive director.
Recognizing the vital role that conflict management plays in the work of nonprofit organizations, the Center for Nonprofit Management was excited to partner with Lipscomb University to make such valuable training available to local nonprofit managers.
“Through this scholarship, Lipscomb is making a tremendous contribution to the nonprofit community in Middle Tennessee,” said Lewis Lavine, CNM president. “We congratulate Laura and know she will add her skills and knowledge to the first conflict management class.”
Swanson joined Wilson County CASA, an organization that coordinates volunteer court appointed advocates for abused and neglected children in the social welfare system, as program director in 2004. She was appointed to run the organization as Executive Director in February.
Wilson County CASA coordinates around 50 volunteers who work one case at a time to ensure the best interests’ of the child. Swanson oversees a budget of more than $100,000.
“I am so excited to be chosen as a part of this program,” said Swanson. “Because of the nature of our job, there is conflict and always will be. I need to provide as much information as I can to our volunteers to empower them in those situations, and this program further enables me to do just that.”
“Families dealing with the court system on the future of their child often see CASA volunteers as the bad guy,” Swanson said. “So Lipscomb’s Institute for Conflict Management will be a wonderful tool to allow me to equip our volunteer advocates with the ability to present information in a non-threatening manner and learn methods to work respectfully with those families.”
The Center for Nonprofit Management creates and sustains nonprofit excellence through training, consulting, research, evaluation and recognition of nonprofit agencies. Established 20 years ago, it has 675 member agencies.
Lipscomb University established the ICM, a first in the Mid-South region, to provide graduate and professional training in dispute resolution. Good conflict management skills defuse explosive situations before they end up costing an organization through litigation, loss of employees or loss of production. The ICM provides a practical benefit to Middle Tennessee individuals and businesses such as law, health care, ministerial work, education and law enforcement, as well as the community at-large.
Future applicants for the CNM scholarship to Lipscomb’s master’s in conflict management program need only meet Lipscomb’s standard admission requirements, show a commitment to the nonprofit field in Tennessee and have relevant work experience. For more information on the programs of the Institute for Conflict Management, call 966-6680.