Frank Dukes, director of the University of Virginia’s Institute for Environmental Negotiation, received the 2012 Sharon M. Pickett Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution. The award is presented annually to a person who has advanced the cause of environmental protection through effective conflict resolution, or who has authored a publication that advances awareness of an environmental protection concern addressed through conflict resolution.

“Frank Dukes is a nationally known leader in the alternative dispute resolution field and has an extensive background as a facilitator and as a public policy neutral,” said Lou Gieszl, the immediate past president of the association, who presented the award to Dukes on Sept. 15 at the association’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

“Frank has authored or co-authored several books and, in my view, has gone beyond the level of simple dispute resolution and conflict management,” he added. “He’s at the realm of spiritual and personal transformation. He’s done extraordinary work in the area of reconciliation and righting unrightable wrongs.”

Author of “Reaching for Higher Ground and Resolving Public Conflict: Transforming Community and Governance,” Dukes works with communities on a wide range of issues, including water supply, school districting, economic development, racial equity and public lands. He facilitated groundbreaking consensus-building efforts involving the tobacco farming and public health communities, and is now involved in facilitating community efforts in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia as well as the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

He teaches courses in collaborative planning and other topics in the School of Architecture’s Department of Urban and Environmental Planning. This summer he traveled with students to France and Switzerland and led a course on “Sustainable Europe” that focused on immigration and post-conflict rebuilding.