Pepperdine’s academic benchmark is furthered through the Straus Institute Dispute Resolution, which allows undergraduate students to take law courses to earn their Certificate in Conflict Management (CCM).
“You can take the skills into all aspects of your daily life,” senior Griffee Mapps said. “Whether your friends are having a disagreement or you’re having a dispute with your landlord, you learn those skills of mediation to calm conflict, act as a neutral third party, help facilitate constructive dialogue to actually achieve conflict transformation.”
Located in Caruso School of Law, Straus held the No. 2 ranking of Best Dispute Resolution Law Programs for 14 years, according to Pepperdine Law’s Surf Report.
The program offers a CCM, a Certificate in Dispute Resolution (CDR), a Master of Dispute Resolution (MDR) and a Master of Law in Dispute Resolution (LLM). Straus provides students, both undergraduate and Juris Doctorate (JD) candidates, with the unique opportunity to learn how to handle conflict in different settings.
Three Seaver students are set to complete the certificate this spring, each carrying their niche goals, talents and aspirations into the classroom.
Griffee Mapps
Griffee Mapps is a senior undergraduate, studying International Studies with a minor in Spanish. He began the certificate last fall.
“As international studies, you hear a lot about international conflict, armed conflicts,” he said. “But you don’t necessarily hear a lot about how to resolve those things. And so Straus helped me answer the questions of how to solve global issues, not necessarily just think about them.”
Peace conflict and mediation have always piqued Mapp’s interest, he said.
“I’ve kind of wanted to go into the peace building as of lately,” Mapps said. “Understanding things like restorative justice and mediation and interfaith peace building are really important when you’re going into that field. I feel like Straus provides more technical tools to help solve conflict.”
Straus offers two schedule choices for prospective students: weekend intensives or classes that meet regularly throughout the two semesters. Mapps chose the latter, due to his desire to soak in the experience.
“You’re able to build a better relationship with your professor and engage with the content more,” Mapps said.
Now working as a research assistant for the Straus Institute with his name mentioned in five published research papers, Mapps has been able to venture beyond the Seaver world. He plans to continue with Straus to earn his Master’s in Dispute Resolution (MDR).
“I think oftentimes we get stuck in our Seaver bubble and we don’t think about the things that are happening outside of the undergraduate campus,” he said. “Getting involved in Straus has led me to a completely different career path that I didn’t even know was available.”
Makenzie Homrich
Makenzie Homrich is a senior Economics major who began the program in the fall of her junior year and is set to complete the certificate this spring. Homrich approached the certificate intending to combine her current knowledge of economics with her plans of earning her Juris Doctorate.
“Part of my brain is helping me to think rationally so I’ve been able to calculate quickly, ‘what’s the rational socially optimal outcome of this deal?’” Homrich said. “But I’m also able to look at it on the dispute resolution side of my brain that says, ‘OK, what’s actually going to create a longstanding agreement that’s going to benefit in the future.’”
Post-JD, Homrich said she plans to practice personal injury and medical malpractice law, aspiring to use her learning experience from Straus to mediate conflicts. She said is interested in being a mediator between patients and companies.
Due to the nature of the Seaver/Straus certification and its combination of Seaver and Caruso students, there is an academic curve. Homrich stressed the importance of truly understanding the elements of the certificate classes.
“You have to be able to recognize you’re in a master’s level class, it’s gonna be a competitive environment,” she said. “You have to recognize who’s in the classroom, but not in the way of undermining your own efficacy as a student. It just means the quality of work that you produce has to be excellent.”
Homrich advises students interested in the Straus program to look internally and pinpoint their career goals and strengths and weaknesses in terms of conflict management.
“If you can recognize that you have room for growth in conflict, I would say that it’s [Straus certificate] a great opportunity to learn how to deal with it in a way where people walk away actually feeling seen and valued,” Homrich said.
Miles Morgan
Miles Morgan, a junior Economics major from New York, also began the Straus certificate in Fall 2024. Morgan was a mediation intern for the New York Unified Court System last summer, which prompted his interest in mediation and conflict management, leading him to apply for Straus, he said.
“The classes taught me what it means to sort of use the skills that you have and apply it in a daily setting,” Morgan said. “I see basically everything as a negotiation now.”
Morgan is in the weekend intensive pathway, which allows him to take two weekend classes in the fall, and two in the spring.
“It is just in my best interest to get it done as soon as possible,” he said. “I would recommend if you wanna go fast-paced, you kind of just wanna bang it out, to do the weekend [intensive].
Straus hosts a diverse demographic of students, from undergraduates to JD candidates to Master students. As a Straus student, Morgan has the chance to meet a variety of students, all with different backgrounds.
“Those upperclassmen, they’re really smart, you can learn a lot from them as well,” he said. “There’s a lot of international people, a lot of people who are older, so there’s a good opportunity to sort of gain wisdom and life experience from most people.”
Straus allows students to look beyond the classroom, and not solely focus on the topics at hand.
“It helps you become a leader and helps you think so creatively and so differently about just the way the world works,” Morgan said. “The program really aims to teach students that thinking in a one-dimensional way isn’t gonna get you anywhere.”
Pepperdine holds a promise to provide students mastery in purpose and leadership, according to its mission statement. The Straus Institute provides students with the niche experience of gaining skills in conflict management and a peak in the law school realm.
“It encourages you to think deeper about how to solve conflict, cause it’s something that we all deal with daily, but we don’t necessarily think about what to do with it,” Mapps said.
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Contact Shalom Montgomery via email: shalom.montgomery@pepperdine.edu
