March Alumni Profile: Stephen Kotev

Stephen Kotev has dedicated his professional career to the practice and study of conflict resolution. His first exposure to conflict resolution began as a high school peer mediator over twenty years ago. From high school, Stephen attended Conrad Grebel, graduating with a History degree, with a PACS option and an International Studies option. Stephen specifically chose Grebel because of its well established conflict resolution program. At the time, the academic field of conflict resolution was in its early stages and there were few programs that offered advanced degrees. There was no full degree in PACS offered at the time and receiving an option in PACS was the most intensive course of study available. Stephen is envious of those who are now able to study PACS at the undergraduate level and wishes he had the same opportunity when left high school.

Shortly after graduating, Stephen began working for the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management, a State of Ohio agency, that provided service to schools, courts, communities, and state and local governments. His position as Program Assistant allowed him to explore conflict resolution through a number of avenues including piloting a workplace mediation program, co-facilitating a negotiated rule-making process, and coordinating numerous trainings for establishing K-12 school conflict resolution programs to teaching elected officials negotiation and conflict resolution governing best practices.  Stephen eventually went on to pursue a Master of Science degree from George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis & Resolution and earned certificates in conflict coaching and leadership coaching from Conflict Coaching Matters and Georgetown University.

By 2009, Stephen had worked for the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution and the Association for Conflict Resolution, but he found himself feeling that he was not able to practice conflict resolution himself. Stephen decided to establish his own practice as a Conflict Resolution Consultant and Coach, and has become a national expert on how you can improve your performance by better managing the stress of conflict situations. Within his practice, Stephen specializes in teaching conflict resolvers how to better manage their Fight-or-Flight response triggered by utilizing simple practical somatic (body) skills focused on breath, posture, and vision. He presents workshops nationally and internationally on this content and has served as an Adjunct Professor for George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution in Arlington, Virginia for over a decade. Where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on how to better manage the stress of high-conflict interventions. Additionally, he is the Chair of the Association for Conflict Resolution Taskforce on Safety in Alternative Dispute Resolution and holds rank in the Japanese martial art of Aikido and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Stephen deeply enjoyed his time at Grebel and his PACS coursework in particular and still carries fond memories of his classmates and professors and would strongly encourage anyone interested in studying conflict resolution to give Grebel’s PACS program a try.