University News

U.S. News Ranking Recognizes Werner Institute

Creighton University School of Law has climbed to the rank of 12th in the nation among nearly 200 law schools offering dispute resolution classes, according to U.S. News & World Report’s assessment of America’s Best Graduate Schools.

Since 2005, Creighton’s dispute resolution program has been housed in the Werner Institute for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution. The institute, established with a gift from the C.L. Werner family, uses the field of conflict resolution to engage a variety of issues in an increasingly complex world. In addition to enhancing the dispute resolution education of law students, the institute currently enrolls more than 85 master’s students, many of whom are nonlawyers. This area of Creighton’s School of Law is receiving increasing attention while creating new opportunities for collaboration among Creighton’s graduate and professional programs.

Through the Werner Institute, Creighton is one of a handful of universities that offers a master’s degree and a graduate certificate in dispute resolution. The institute also offers workplace training in conflict management, started the first university-based program to integrate emerging health care issues with the practice of conflict resolution, and recently established a Public Issues Collaboration Initiative (PIC) offering facilitation, mediation and consultation services to public stakeholders. The institute will launch a major program in distance education when it begins offering its graduate degree online and through other media in the fall of 2008.

The new ranking places Creighton ahead of Stanford University and many other world-renowned law schools that offer courses in conflict resolution.

“These emerging programs not only benefit our students, but also give greater perspective to our study, focus attention on Omaha and help the world at large. Each of these aspects furthers the mission of a Jesuit university,” said Arthur Pearlstein, director of the Werner Institute.