Judith McKay has a B.A. in History from The American University in Washington, D.C., an M.A. in Education with a specialty in Student Personnel Services from Kean University in New Jersey. She received a J.D. from the School of Law at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she received the ATLA Award for Outstanding Student Litigator. She received her Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from DCAR at NSU. Her dissertation was titled: “Strategic Community Planning: Using Social Cubism and Multi-Modal Theories in the Design of Community Peacebuilding Partnerships.”

Judith has been professionally involved in conflict resolution for 20 years as a mediator, arbitrator, attorney, negotiator, facilitator, grievance hearing officer, trainer, dispute systems designer, researcher and professor. She has consulted for private, civic, religious and community organizations, engaged in civil litigation and contract negotiations, and assisted in writing constitutions, bylaws, and grievance procedures for unions and other organizations.

As DCAR’s Director of Practicum and of Community Resolution Services (CRS), the department’s own practicum site, Judith has helped launch NSU’s Campus Conflict Resolution and Mediation Project, community mediation and facilitation services, and coordinates SHSS’s Career Development Program. Since coming to NSU, Judith has been involved in three significant federal grants. Each grant program was funded from one to three years .All three grants represent a total of close to $900,000 in federal funding.

Judith directed the VOICES Family Outreach Project, which assisted families struggling with conflict and violence. VOICES started as a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice (1997-1999), and continues as a service of CRS. Judith helped coordinate a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at the Salvation Army homeless shelter with several departments from NSU’s Health Professions Division from 2000-2003. Currently she is the Principle Investigator for the Community Resources, Partnerships, and Solutions (CRPS) Grant from the US Department of Justice. This program is designed to work in cooperation with law enforcement, and other social service providers to address violence in the community. She sits on the Executive Committee of NSU’s Criminal Justice Institute.

Judith’s research interests include: strategic community planning; organizational conflict; family, civil and community mediation; conflict and crisis management, violence prevention and intervention models, health care conflict resolution, public policy and policy making, and graduate experiential learning. Her most recent article, “The Use of Social Cubism in the Analysis of Community Conflicts.” was published in the ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law, in spring 2002. She is currently working on three articles: one related to strategic community planning, one on adaptive mediation, and one on graduate experiential learning.

The classes Judith teaches have included: Consultation, Facilitation Theory and Practice, Mediation Theory and Practice, Organizational Conflict Theory and Practice, Practicum I, Practicum II, Teaching & Training in Conflict Resolution, Teaching & Training Practicum, Conflict Resolution in Health Care, Strategic Community Planning & Partnerships, Conflict and Crisis Management Theory, and Critical Incidents:

Judith’s professional affiliations have included: The Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), the Law Enforcement Committee of the South Florida Human Rights Council, The American Bar Association (ABA), the Board of the Association of South Florida Mediators (ASFM), the Broward County Domestic Violence Council, the Broward County Victim’s Right’s Council, and Rotary International. Currently she is coordinating the effort to form the South Florida Chapter of ACR. Judith has also been the Co-Editor of the Association of Broward County Mediators Newsletter.

Judith is a trainer whose topics include: Mediation Ethics, Recent Topics and Trends in Mediation, Domestic and Family Violence, Domestic Violence and Mediation, Strategic Community Planning, Anger and Mediation, Anger Management, Conflict Resolution in Organizations, Planning for Community Peace, Partnership Models for Social Change, and Law Enforcement and Community Partnerships. She has also been involved in training law enforcement officers in conflict and crisis communication in several states.

Judith’s recent conference presentations include: The Association for Conflict Resolution (2003) in Orlando, (2002) in San Diego and (2001) in Toronto; The American Occupational Therapy Association’s Annual Conference (2002) in Miami; The Dispute Resolution Center’s Annual Conference (2001, 2000) in Orlando; Florida Occupational Therapy Association’s Annual Conference (2001), Ft. Lauderdale; The American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Annual Conference (1999) in Chicago and the International Family Therapy World Congress (1999) in Akron.