Lauren Bergmann

Many roads lead to ICAR. For Lauren Bergmann the most recent turn in that road began when she decided that law school was not for her (at least not for now) and chose to pursue education in the field of conflict resolution. While at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, she worked in a restorative justice program and liked the concept as a complement to our current systems of justice. As she puts it, "the justice system alienates both the victim and the offender from the process and restorative justice lets people know how they feel and helps them reconnect with the community.

"Lauren is the winner of the James H. Laue Memorial Scholarship which is dedicated to one of the founders of the program in the interest of continuing his research interest in the area of peace and justice. Her description of her experiences in restorative justice holds up to Laue's ideals. Now that Lauren has begun her first year as a Master's student at ICAR, she is enjoying the diversity of ideas that each person brings with them and also the privilege of receiving the award.

For her, this experience can be a stepping stone into a future career, a number of opportunities to travel, or perhaps both. Although Lauren is still forming her own views of what it the field of "conflict" entails, she looks forward to being able to shape her own viewpoints as she goes through the program.

Said Lauren of her future plans, "I am interested in working with a local community on victim offender reconciliation programs, helping victims to be a more integral part of the justice process as well as helping the community do a better job of reintegrating former offenders. Working on the local level is important to me and right now there's so much work to be done there to help people get back on their feet. The system is pretty unforgiving at the moment and I want to help improve it."