Faculty
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Alexia Georgakopoulos, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution and Communication Phone: (954) 262-3054 |
Alexia Georgakopoulos received her Ph.D. degree in Communication from Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona in 2003 where she attended the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication. Alexia Georgakopoulos has extensive experience as an educator, trainer, researcher, and practitioner. Dr. Georgakopoulos is a Florida Supreme Court Certified County and Family Mediator. She is a primary trainer and delivers training programs throughout the year for Florida Supreme Court Certification in County Mediation.
Her areas of expertise in Conflict Resolution are specifically in Organizational Communication, Intercultural Communication and Relational Communication. She also specializes in Nonverbal Communication and Effective Pedagogy. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from Illinois State University and she completed part of her program at CURTIN University in Perth, Australia. She received her M.S. degree in Communication at Illinois State University. She has previously taught at Illinois State University, University of West Florida and Arizona State University. In 2003 Dr. Georgakapoulos accepted a position in the Department of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (DCAR) at Nova Southeastern University.
Dr. Georgakopoulos was interviewed and appeared on NBC’s Today Show in 2007 and discussed the topic of “Is Peace Possible?” She argued that peace is indeed possible, but peace requires individual action and initiative. She explained that humans can decide to promote peace or engage in conflict. Peace is a verb— an action not a noun. World peace begins with individuals and in homes where parents teach their children values about peace.
She is the director of the Institute of Conflict Resolution and Communication (ICRC) and regularly delivers conflict resolution and communication based workshops. She delivers educational workshops for multinational organizations, school systems, healthcare organizations, governmental agencies, religious organizations, community-based organizations, and international institutions. She is a Florida Supreme Court County Certified Mediator and a practicing mediator. Also, she regularly offers mediation and facilitation workshops based on a variety of models.
Dr. Georgakopoulos is the co-director for SHSS’s Quality Enhancement Plan for institutional effectiveness and program accreditation. She has been performing assessments of student learning outcomes for the school and has been exploring ways to create cutting edge curricula in the programs. She is the director of DCAR’s Common Ground Film Festival. The Common Ground Film Festival features documentary films and accounts of conflict around the world. The Festival is held annually and this special event is open to the public annually. DCAR faculty and students engage in facilitated dialogue with audience members after each film. Common Ground Films present powerful and captivating stories about humans engaged in conflict around the world. The Common Ground Film Festival allows individuals to see and feel the destructive nature of conflict, but the films also show individuals that with despair of conflict there can be hope. Hope for change and hope for a better future.
In the past, Dr. Georgakopoulos served as an International Student Advisor at both Illinois State University and University of West Florida. She has played a key role in developing courses in intercultural and interpersonal communication with emphases in conflict resolution at several institutions. She has taught English as a foreign language in the International and English Program Department at University of West Florida where she also designed intergroup relation programs that provided international students and domestic students an opportunity to integrate and learn from one another.
Her scholarly work focuses upon mediation, facilitation, culture and conflict, interpersonal conflict, race relations, religion/spirituality, emotions, teacher effectiveness, effective pedagogy, and nonverbal communication. She subscribes to a multiparadigmatic approach using interpretive, critical, and mixed methods in her work. She regularly teaches courses concerning interpersonal/intercultural communication, mediation, facilitation, research methods, dispute system designs and organizational conflict.
