Vanessa Maria Holguin from Dalton, Ga., Helps Brenau University Take First Place in Regional Intercollegiate Mock Mediation Tournament

2011 Oct 11

GAINESVILLE, GA (10/12/2011)(readMedia)--

Vanessa Maria Holguin from Dalton, Ga., helped the Brenau University team capture first place among the eight competing college and university teams that participated in the 9th Annual Brenau University Mock Mediation Tournament on the Gainesville campus Oct. 7-8.

Holguin is a sophomore at Brenau majoring in conflict resolutions and legal studies. She is also a member of the International Club. She is the daughter of Juan Holguin and Maria Enriquez. She is a graduate of Dalton High School.

In the Brenau tournament 16 different teams represented eight colleges and universities from throughout the Southeast: Brenau, Middle Tennessee State University, Gainesville State College, Georgia State University, Clayton State University, Middle Georgia College, Western Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A Brenau team finished first, followed by teams from Georgia State University, Gainesville State College, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A second Brenau team finished in fifth place.

The next stop for Brenau student mediators will be at the National Intercollegiate Mock Mediation Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, Nov. 11-12.

In 2002 the Brenau team won top honors in the national tournament. Brenau teams usually finish in the top 10. Last year's national tournament marked a rare occasion when a Brenau team was not a top finisher – although Brenau's Christina Poole won an All-American Mediator Plaque and a $10,000 scholarship from Drake Law School. Since the university began competing nationally, a dozen Brenau students have been named All-American Mediators.

Brenau became a leader in alternative dispute resolution, or ADR, 13 years ago when Dr. Ken Frank, a member of the board of directors of the International Academy of Dispute Resolution, developed the Conflict Resolution and Legal Studies major, establishing the university as the only institution in Georgia, and one of just a few in the country to offer an undergraduate degree in the subject.

Mediation, a form of problem-solving in which a trained negotiator guides conflicting parties toward a mutually acceptable agreement, has grown increasingly popular in the legal community and other fields to resolve contentious domestic issues – landlord-tenant disagreements or child-custody cases – as well as large-scale, high-level organizational clashes in corporations, union negotiations, and political peace treaties.

During mock mediation tournament, teams of student mediators tackle hypothetical but realistic conflict scenarios to analyze, negotiate, and resolve during three rounds with their performances monitored by mediation experts. In the Brenau tournament, the judges' panel comprised members of the bar association, local mediators from the 9th District Alternate Dispute Resolution office in Gainesville, Ga., and members of the Brenau faculty and staff who have had mediation training.

"Mediation is much faster, less expensive, and often fairer and more desirable in its outcomes than litigation," said Frank, who is chair of the humanities department at Brenau. "It saves everyone two important resources – time and money."

For more information about the Brenau program, read the article in Brenau Window magazine at http://artsweb.brenau.edu/BrenauWindow/Spring2011/Spring11_peacemakers.pdf.

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ABOUT BRENAU – Founded in 1878, Brenau University currently enrolls about 2,800 students in graduate and undergraduate programs on campuses and online. With a curriculum that blends professional preparation informed by the liberal arts, Brenau degree tracks range from Associate of Arts, which includes a special "early college" program for exceptional high school-age students to terminal degrees, including a Master of Fine Arts in Interior design and a Doctor of Nursing Practice. The main campus of the Georgia-based liberal arts institution, which includes the Brenau Women's College, is in Gainesville with other campuses in Augusta, Kings Bay and in two metro Atlanta locations, Norcross and Fairburn. Brenau's 2011 ranking as one of the top 15-best higher education values in the Southeast by U.S. News & World Report marks the university's sixth consecutive year in that position for the magazine's America's Best Colleges guidebook. Brenau University also has been cited as one of the best universities in the Southeast by The Princeton Review. The Chronicle of Higher Education accorded Brenau "honor roll" status as one of the top 10 best colleges and universities to work in its 2011-12 survey rankings.