Attorney, arbitrator and mediation expert Robert Perkovich, 51, has been named director of the Dispute Resolution Center at DePaul University. The center was established in 1988 to help people resolve conflicts in a more collaborative fashion in order to preserve and enhance relationships. With Perkovich’s leadership, it will expand to become one of the first academic organizations to offer training in emerging areas of mediation such as restorative justice and victim/offender resolution and reconciliation.

“With the appointment of Robert Perkovich, DePaul’s Dispute Resolution Center will build on its reputation of being a premier training resource for mediators, arbitrators and others who want to learn the art and science of effective conflict resolution, alternative dispute resolution and negotiations,” said David O. Justice, vice president for Lifelong Learning and Suburban Campuses at DePaul.

Perkovich, who also teaches conflict management at DePaul’s College of Commerce, brings a wealth of mediation and conflict resolution skills to his new position. A member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, he has mediated a wide range of issues including those involving discriminatory or improper discipline and discharge; health and safety; and disabilities and criminal misconduct. He also has helped interpret contracts involving health benefits and conflicts arising from the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements.

Prior to establishing his dispute resolution practice Perkovich, who earned a law degree from John Marshall Law School in 1981, was a field examiner for the Chicago regional office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He went on to work as a trial attorney for the NLRB before being appointed the first executive director of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board by former Gov. James Thompson in 1984.

The Dispute Resolution Center employs the talents of prominent dispute resolution and arbitration practitioners as well as academic scholars of dispute resolution methodologies to offer 40-hour certificate programs and one- and two-day workshops. Participants learn from a variety of teaching methods including live demonstrations and simulations based on actual situations.

Under Perkovich’s direction, the center will become the first academic institution in Chicago to offer training in the newest areas of conflict management including dispute resolution in higher education and in religious institutions. It also will offer programs in restorative justice and victim/offender resolution reconciliation. Participants in these programs will learn how to negotiate elements of apology and reconciliation in misdemeanor and civil legal actions.

The center will continue to offer certificate programs in such areas as conflict management and family and divorce mediation and negotiation at DePaul campuses in Chicago, Lincoln Park, Naperville, Lake Forest and Oak Forest.

Perkovich assumes the directorship from Katheryn Dutenhaver, a DePaul College of Law professor, who co-founded of the center with Tom Gibbons, currently the dean of Northwestern University’s School of Continuing Studies. Dutenhaver will remain a faculty member at the center.

Perkovich can be reached at 312/362-8486. ###