Ruckelshaus Institute

Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

Wyoming Collaboration Conference

Pre-conference workshop: Collaboration Skills and Techniques.

This one-day, interactive course develops an awareness of the many facets of collaborative decision making. Participants learn how to organize collaborative processes that are decision-focused and engage the public in meaningful ways. Concepts and skill development will be centered on planning and organizing collaborative, community processes around contentious natural resource issues. This training exposes those new to collaborative processes to the broad range of concepts and skills that one must have to effectively manage public involvement in natural resource issues.

The workshop took place September 29, 2014, at Casper College.

Course Instructors:

Jessica Clement, Ruckelshaus Institute, University of Wyoming

Jessica is Research Scientist in Human Dimensions in Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. She adds expertise in the field of human dimensions in natural resources to the Ruckelshaus Institute’s suite of natural resource and environmental science and policy capacity. Dr. Clement is an experienced facilitator and has worked with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to help them develop institutional capacity to integrate collaborative learning and collaborative problem-solving into their wildlife management mission. She also directs the Collaboration Program in Natural Resources, a leadership development program for professionals in natural resources management and environmental policy.

Steve Smutko, Ruckelshaus Institute, University of Wyoming

Steve holds the Spicer Chair in Collaborative Practice and is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. The focus of his work is on engaging with local governments, state and federal agencies, and the private and nonprofit sectors to enhance participatory decision-making on complex and often contentious environmental and natural resource policy issues. Steve provides assistance and training in participatory decision-making, negotiation, collaborative process design, public dispute resolution, and technical analysis of resources, economics, and policy. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in negotiation, negotiation analysis, and environmental problem solving. Steve received a Ph.D. in economics from Auburn University.