Ron Claassen

Ron Claassen, Director, Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies. Member of the faculty of the School of Education.

Office location: 4882 E. Townsend Ave.
Telephone: 559.453.3420
Fax: 559.453.3417
email: rlclaass@fresno.edu

Background

Director of the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies and a member of the faculty of the Fresno Pacific Graduate School. He has served as a teacher, pastor, consultant, trainer and mediator in church, business,school, VORP and other settings. He is the founder of Fresno VORP (Victim Offender Reconciliation Program). Claassen also serves as a mediator and trainer with Mennonite Conciliation Service. He has consulted and trained people in conflict management and mediation throughout the United States and abroad.

Education

• D.Min., 2005, San Francisco Theological Seminary
• M.Div., 1981, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries, Elkhart, IN
• M.A., 1968, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
• B.A., 1967, Fresno Pacific College, Fresno, CA

Publications

• "Two Useful Models for Implementing Restorative Justice" in ACResolution v. 3 n. 4 Summer 2004.
• "Our Way vs. My Way" in Christian Leader January 2004.
• "Building Peace: The Victim Offender Reconciliation Program Approach and its Growing Role in Communities" in Perry, John, ed. (2002) Restorative Justice: Repairing Communities Through Restorative Justice. Lanham, MD: American Correctional Association.
• Monthly articles in the newsletter of Victim Offender Reconciliation Program 1985-1999.
• "Punishment or Accountability" in The Bar Bulletin June 1998.
• "Offender Makes About Face After VORP Community Justice Conference, Boot Camp" in The Bar Bulletin June 1998. With Jay Griffith.
• "Community Justice Conference Process Involves People Who Need to Know" in The Bar Bulletin June 1998.
• "Community Justice Conferencing: Expanding Restorative Justice in Fresno County, California." Community Corrections Report. Vol. 4, No. 6, 1997.
• "Creating Space for Dialogue." Chapter in Community Disorders and Policing, ed. Tony Marshall, London: Whiting and Birch, 1992.
• "Reconciliation: A Call to Wage Peace Against Crime." The Christian Leader, January 1995.
• "Conflict Across Cultures: Research and Training." Conciliation Quarterly, Summer 1994.
• "VORP Mediators are Skillful Volunteers." Conciliation Quarterly, Summer 1992.
• "Vision: Mystical and Practical." Criminal Justice Network Newsletter, Fall 1989.

Professional Affiliations

• Licensed Mennonite minister Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference
• Association for Conflict Resolution
• President of the Central California Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution
• Mediation Associates^sm since 1985
• Mennonite Conciliation Services

Selected Professional Presentations

• Plenary speaker for the first Restorative Justice Conference in Israel initiated by the Ministry of Justice National Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution and the University of Tel Aviv Law School and Graduate School of Social Work, May 1 and 2, 2002. Also led three half-day pre-conference workshops sponsored by the Ministry of Justice on the theory and practice of restorative justice.
• "Family Group Conferencing" at the national conference of the Academy of Family Mediators in San Francisco, June 1998