Jennifer C. Batton, M.A. has 25 years of experience
in the field of conflict resolution/alternative dispute resolution working for state government, higher education, and a non-profit. 

Her experience includes eight years in state government (serving approximately 3600 primary and secondary public schools and 52 teacher training colleges and universities), seven years as the director of the Global Issues Resource Center at Cuyahoga Community College, and international education work in 23 countries. She provided direct service to more than 71 colleges and universities, 600 primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of civil society and governmental organizations.

She is the current Co-chair of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, Peace and Conflict Resolution Education (CRE) Working Group.  Her international work includes providing leadership for The Organization of American States (OAS) Advisory Board for the Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices and serving on the board of Help the Afghan Children. Batton has experience in 43 countries, provided training, presentations, and consultation for teachers, policy makers, and youth serving professionals in 23 countries on the topic of CRE including: Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Belize, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, France, Guatemala, India, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Qatar, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine. Recently she served as a Senior Consultant for UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning working to develop a training package for Ministries of Education in Fragile Countries to build the infrastructure implement conflict and disaster risk reduction education country-wide. Education for Safety, Resilience, and Social
Cohesion (2014) ] http://education4resilience.iiep.unesco.org/en/curriculum

Batton’s state and national experience include working on several United States Department of Education funded education initiatives,  co-coordinating and developing seven national capacity building seminars for colleges developing peace/conflict programs, and serving for eight years as the director of education programs for the state government office, the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management. For the state she was responsible for strategic planning to meet the needs of all of Ohio’s schools, colleges and universities including coordinating and designing state-wide conflict resolution education (CRE) programming by providing grants, training, technical assistance, evaluation, and resource development in partnership with other state government, and state-wide youth serving agencies.  She recently served as the director of Global Issues Resource Center (GIRC) at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, USA where she developed and coordinated the college’s certificate program in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies (the first in Ohio at a Community College), coordinated a free on-line national How to Manual for Community Colleges Developing Peace and Conflict Studies Programs with the United States Institute of Peace, coordinated the development of the first study abroad program in Peace and Conflict Studies in Costa Rica through Community Colleges for International Development (CCID), developed and managed the 1st Sustained Dialogue Campus Network program at a Community College in the U.S., and developed the college’s mediation program pilot.

Before coming to the state, she was the Director of the Status Offender Mediation Program for the Butler County Juvenile Courts. A sample of her local volunteer work includes serving on the Board of the League of Women Voters Hudson, Vice President of the Board for Global Ties Akron, and as a Co-Delegate to the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, for the Peace Garden of the Nations.  She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Miami University, an M.A. in Conflict Resolution from Antioch University Midwest, McGregor School, and completed additional coursework toward a Ph.D. in Conflict Management through Nova Southeastern University.