Point Of View
An International
Research and Retreat Center
Mason Neck, Virginia
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As they gave their home and its surrounding acreage for Point of View, Edwin and Helen Lynch showed their commitment to creating a world-class retreat facility dedicated to fostering peace — to helping people here and around the world discover ways to solve problems peacefully and avoid and prevent the enormous suffering caused by violence.
Making the most of this unprecedented opportunity requires the leadership and support of a wide range of individuals and organizations that share the Lynch’s commitment to peace. Point of View will be built on partnerships with the nonprofit, academic, corporate, and international communities, enabling the center to become an international hub of peacebuilding and conflict resolution activities.
In 2007, ICAR will launch a campaign to raise $25 million to build Point of View and provide for long-term programming, operating and student support. Additionally, ICAR is reaching out to those who would get involved with Point of View as sponsors, supporters and potential users of the retreat center.
Private funding is vital to developing the new center with the kind of pioneering imagination for which ICAR is well known. As you consider your role in helping to fulfill this vision, please remember that founding partners and sponsors will enjoy tailored benefits packages and naming opportunities. Your support is an investment in the future of the global possibilities for peace and will contribute to the well-being of our region, the nation, and the world.
The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University is the oldest and strongest graduate program in conflict resolution. As such, ICAR has the faculty resources and research base needed to provide the foundation for Point of Viewas a place and a space to address the most pressing conflicts we face today.
In 1981, ICAR became the world’s first institution of higher education to offer a masters program and, a few years later, a doctoral program in conflict resolution. Today, ICAR offers a range of degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level. Across our program, faculty, alumni and students are strongly committed to addressing a broad array of deeply rooted conflicts in the international and domestic spheres.
ICAR students and faculty are engaged in ongoing projects in more than a dozen countries, including Tajikistan, Korea, Guatemala and Syria, while professors have served as consultants and mediators in nations such as Armenia, Georgia/Abkhazia, Bosnia, and the United States.
Among ICAR’s core interests are the dynamics of conflict resolution as well as the connections between conflict and globalization, religion, and identity. Our program’s analytical and practice elements are intended to build upon one another to improve future understanding of the origins and nature of conflict, the methodology of practice, and the integration of practice and theory.
Every day, we witness new acts of violence, civil war and malevolent conflict around the world. Never has the world faced such a broad and urgent set of challenges and threats to international peace.
Professional conflict resolvers believe hope lies in our ability to bring conflicting parties together to analyze the root causes of conflicts and work jointly on solutions that fulfill the needs of human security and development, protect human dignity, and promote equality and human rights.
To that end, the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University is developing a unique retreat complex to promote research in conflict analysis, facilitate conflict resolution and reconciliation, and offer training to a new generation of scholars and practitioners. Appropriately named Point of View, the complex will provide a tranquil setting for high-level domestic and international dialogues, academic research, conferences, workshops, and skills training – all guided by ICAR’s conflict resolution professionals.
The location and physical attributes of the Point of View site make it ideal for such an endeavor. The 120-acre parcel of pristine wooded land, bordered by the Potomac River and protected wetlands, is in Mason Neck, Va., about 30 miles south of Washington, D.C., and the ICAR campus in Arlington, Va. It’s proximity to the capital provides an opportunity to benefit from the region’s vast informational resources and also to serve it’s civic and business organizations, federal agencies, universities, and international diplomatic community. Meanwhile, the rural setting will be conducive to reflective thinking and productive interactions. The land was donated in 1999 to George Mason University by Helen and Edwin Lynch, a Virginia couple that long supported the university and processes that aim to resolve deep-rooted conflicts through peaceful means.
Backed by a blend of private and public funds, Point of View will be a signature site, nationally and internationally, for university training, stakeholder engagement, and international conferences, seminars, and other meetings. As an extension of ICAR, the center will provide an ideal physical setting and state-of-the-art facilities to support learning, relation-building, and innovative thinking. Various perspectives on conflict will be studied, including political, economic, cultural, and ideological themes. Explorations of different approaches to conflict resolution and the establishment of constructive relationships will be fostered, as will the analysis of case studies illustrating success and failure in inter-communal and international conflict resolution. These activities will provide the organic connection between practice at Point of View and ICAR’s academic activities.
ICAR is well-suited to spearhead this effort. For more than 26 years, the institute has led the world in the teaching, theory and practice of conflict resolution. ICAR created the world’s first masters and doctoral degrees in the field, and now also offers undergraduate and certificate level courses of study. The institute focuses on three core areas: advancing the understanding of deeply rooted conflicts between individuals, groups, organizations, and communities in the United States and around the world; carrying on a systematic and ongoing study of the nature, origins, and types of social conflicts; and developing the processes and conditions for the productive resolution of conflict. A Commonwealth of Virginia Center for Excellence, ICAR today has more than 450 alumni and 350 students worldwide.
A Conflict Resolution Resource
Parties in conflict from all corners of the globe can come to Point of View to explore new ways of addressing their disputes. Local, national and international stakeholders would be encouraged to conduct meetings and conferences with conflict analysis and resolution experts. Also, Point of View will host panel discussions and key sessions for religious, academic, media and government leaders.
A Research Resource
Point of View will provide a forum for theoreticians and practitioners of conflict resolution to work with scholars from all over the world. The center will sponsor advanced graduate student seminars and conferences addressing developments in theory, examine case studies and engage in dialogue with experts from other disciplines. A case-study database on long-standing conflicts will provide the foundation for training curricula and serve as a resource for practitioners and policy-makers. In addition, the library at Point of View will house a comprehensive collection of materials on conflict
resolution.
A Teaching Facility
The center will encourage graduate students to observe and interact with people who are actively engaged in the practice of conflict analysis and resolution, an experience that will help the next generation of conflict interveners develop new tools and methods for conflict resolution. Point of View will also provide training in various dispute resolution methods for professionals to give them the tools they need to institutionalize strategies for engaging stakeholders in ways that reduce conflict and build stronger relationships
The central conference complex will provide meeting, training, and research space for up to 50 participants and accommodations for up to 15 overnight guests. The main manor house will be renovated for group meetings, as well as academic activities, international student housing, ancillary services, and special events. The Point of View facility will adhere to an environment-ally sensitive design coupled with the latest in communications systems.
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