Staff
Aimee Gourlay
Director and Senior Fellow
Email: agourlay@hamline.edu
Phone: 651-523-2359
B.A., Macalester College
J.D., University of Minnesota School of Law, cum laude
Aimee Gourlay, Director of Mediation Center at Hamline University School of Law, has been with the Center since 1993. Ms. Gourlay is also a Senior Fellow at the Dispute Resolution Institute at Hamline University School of Law, teaching Negotiation and Family Mediation, and adjunct faculty with the Hamline MBA Program, teaching Workplace Mediation Skills, Conflict Response for Managers, and Organizational Conflict Management Systems Design.
With expertise in providing assistance to people from diverse perspectives, Ms. Gourlay frequently facilitates resolution of workplace issues, public policy concerns, and organizational problems. She is well known for her work facilitating collaborative processes with large groups of people that include multiple stakeholders. Ms. Gourlay is on the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution National Roster of Environmental Dispute Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals.
Her work includes conflict assessments and facilitations for: land use, with a focus on urban planning and redevelopment issues; watershed management; nonprofit organizations; systemic racial discrimination claims; allocation of public resources; legislative policy making dialogue; environmental conflict assessment; and, work with teams within state and local government. She was also Ombudsperson for Redevelopment Issues in a first-ring metropolitan suburb, where she provided stakeholders with: independent and confidential conflict resolution consulting; information about redevelopment projects; public policy recommendations; and a forum for public input and constructive, non-adversarial problem solving.
She has also worked extensively to create partnerships in the Hmong community and use mediation skills training within the Hmong community to bridge the gap between Hmong cultural laws and the Minnesota family court system. Ms. Gourlay also served on the United States Postal Service panel of EEO mediators, the federal EEOC mediation panel and speaks nationally on communicating across worldviews.
Ms. Gourlay has taught mediation skills classes in Pohnpei Micronesia, Port of Spain Trinidad and throughout the United States, and is a frequent presenter at national conferences and seminars. She has presented to hundreds of groups on problem solving, mediation, conflict management, and negotiation skills with consistently excellent evaluations. Participants in her trainings and seminars value Ms. Gourlay’s ability to draw on her years of experience as a professional mediator and facilitator and offer real-life examples from which to learn.
Recent publications:
"Mediation: The Process," Minnesota State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education, acted as the mediator for a professional education video to train mediators, Winter 1999;
"Mediation in Employment Cases is Too Little Too Late: Organizational Conflict Management Begins Before a Lawsuit," 21 Hamline University Law Review 261, Winter 1998 (reprinted in Perspectives, a publication of the Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution and scheduled for publication in Australia);
"Mediation for Dads: A Workbook," A. Gourlay, A. Hayden, N. Tift and M. Toogood, 1996.
Jessica Kuchta-Miller
Administrator and Adjunct Professor
Email: mediationcenter@hamline.edu
Phone: 651-523-2279
B.A., South Dakota State University
M.A., Gonzaga University
J.D., Hamline University School of Law, cum laude
Jessica Kuchta-Miller manages the family mediation and public training programs for the Mediation Center at Hamline University and serves as an ADR projects administrator for the Dispute Resolution Institute. Previously, Ms. Kuchta-Miller worked with and advised community mediation programs throughout the Twin Cities metro area. She is a licensed attorney and a Rule 114 qualified neutral for both civil and family law matters under the Minnesota General Rules of Practice. Ms. Kuchta-Miller joined the Hamline University School of Law adjunct faculty in 2002, teaching the Mediation Clinic. In February, 2009 Jessica coached the team of Mike Cavallaro and Sarah Belz at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Mediation Representation Competition. They took second place and were awarded internships for summer, 2009, Sarah at the ICC in Paris and Mike at the international law firm of Clifford Chance.
Vue Chu
Coordinator, Hmong Cultural Dispute Resolution
Email: mediationcenter@hamline.edu
Phone: 651-523-2880, ext. 1