Explore 'constructive confrontation'

Citizens4Community is offering their first quarterly forum of 2017 on Wednesday, January 25, at the Sisters Fire Station Community Hall, 301 S. Elm St.

"Soaring Toward Common Ground" will explore the concept of what it means to "Be Agreeable" (the sixth tenant of Speak Your Peace) - even when you disagree. The focus will be on constructive confrontation as a conflict-management technique.

The free educational event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with something new: Soup and Civility. All are invited to meet and enjoy a cup of soup with bread from Melvin's Fir Street Market. Immediately following the light meal, Professor Gregg Walker will lead a workshop where attendees will gain skills in constructive confrontation.

C4C Program Committee chair Maret Pajutee issued the invitation, saying, "Wisdom says 'breaking bread' together is a good thing to do... We hope people will come out for a cup of soup and be fortified to stay and connect with Dr. Walker's ideas on how to have respectful disagreements and move forward."

Walker's 90-minute workshop will offer effective strategies to safely and respectfully communicate and respond to disagreement and even constructively negotiate with others for changes in behavior.

In addition, a bonus follow-up 90-minute skill-building session is planned for Thursday morning starting at 9 a.m., also at the Fire Hall. The Thursday session will take an even closer look at how to address particularly challenging interactions or situations. Attendees will learn a variety of facilitation techniques to add to the skills they learned during Wednesday's session. Both sessions will be participatory and emphasize active learning.

Walker is a professor of Communication at Oregon State University where he is also an adjunct professor in the environmental sciences, forestry, geosciences, and public policy programs. On campus, he teaches courses in conflict management, negotiation, mediation, international negotiation, environmental conflict resolution, science communication, sustainable development and argumentation.

Off campus, Professor Walker conducts training programs on conflict management, designs collaborative public participation processes, facilitates collaborative learning community workshops about natural resource and environmental policy issues, and researches community-level collaboration efforts.

Before coming to OSU 30 years ago, Walker taught at University of Kansas, Willamette University, and University of Utah. A native of Minnesota, Walker did his undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota, earning B.A. and B.S. degrees and teaching credentials. He had three majors - Communication, History, and Sociology. After teaching high school for five years in Idaho, Walker went to University of Kansas where he earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in communication.

Walker has served as a Fullbright Senior Specialist in the fields of Peace and Conflict Resolution. He is an advisor to the National Collaboration Cadre of the USDA-Forest Service and on the roster of the U. S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution. He also is involved in a number of other national and international mediation and communication projects and working groups. In these roles he attends most of the United Nations climate change negotiation meetings and conducts related research on those negotiations.

Walker is returning just this week from Bangladesh where he participated in a climate change conference.

This Sisters Country Civility Project event is being offered free of charge. All are invited. RSVPs are encouraged by no later than January 20 at [email protected] When RSVPing, indicate if you also are interested in attending Thursday morning's skill-building event.