Institute Leadership

Institute for Conflict Management > About > Institute Leadership

Community Action Informs Classroom Experiences:

Steve Joiner and Phyllis Hildreth Discuss Their Facilitation Process of Recent Public Policy Dispute

Steve Joiner
Managing Director

Dr. Steve Joiner is the Managing Director of the Institute for Conflict Management at Lipscomb University and is a professor in areas of systems design, negotiation, conflict in religious settings, and leadership. Joiner has extensive experience conducting management and staff trainings, courses, and workshops in conflict management skills. Joiner has conducted these seminars in business, community, and religious settings. He has also served as a university dean and has taught conflict management and leadership skills in Guatemala, Germany, Brazil, Uganda, and throughout the U.S. Joiner has a special interest in generationally generated conflict.

Dr. L Randolph Lowry L. Randolph Lowry
Lipscomb University President and Professor

Dr. L Randolph Lowry, President of Lipscomb University, is the founder of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution where he served as the director and a professor for nineteen years. That work is the basis for the newly formed Lipscomb University Institute for Conflict Management. In addition to his work as a mediator and educator, Lowry has worked, literally, around the world. He is an annual visiting faculty member at Vermont Law School and City University of Hong Kong. He has also taught at Shantou University, in Beijing, China; Bond University in Gold Coast, Australia; Hamline University. His consulting and training practice has included work for the legal community in The Netherlands, training for judges in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as consultation with lawyers for Freshfields, an international law firm in Asia.

Phyllis D.K. Hildreth
Academic Director
Adjunct Professor

Phyllis Hildreth joined the Institute for Conflict Management in May 2010 and now serves as Academic Director and Adjunct Professor, as well as Adjunct Professor for Lipscomb’s Institute for Law, Justice & Society. Her experience includes serving as a Chief Counsel in the Office of the Public Defender for the State of Maryland, as Deputy Secretary for the State of Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice, and as the first Managing Director for the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree from the University of Maryland, and completed a gradate certificate in Conflict Management from Lipscomb University’s Institute for Conflict Management. Hildreth served on the adjunct faculty of the University of Baltimore School of Law in the Legal Analysis, Research and Writing Program. She currently serves in Nashville as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), as a member of the board of The Women’s Fund, and the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee. Hildreth is a fiber artist, an entrepreneur, and a member of the Leadership Nashville Class of 2011.

Dr. Larry Bridgesmith Larry Bridgesmith
Senior Fellow

Dr. Larry Bridgesmith serves as a Senior Fellow and associate professor at the Institute for Conflict Management at Lipscomb University. He is the President of Creative Collaborations LLC a consulting and training organization. He is also Of counsel with Miller & Martin, PLLC. In these roles, Dr. Bridgesmith brings over 30 years of experience in dispute resolution and innovative workplace strategies to clients, students and business entities alike. Dr. Bridgesmith integrates the practical, legal and academic "best practices" in dispute resolution strategies in service to his client relationships. Dr. Bridgesmith is listed annually in notable attorney rating publications such as Chambers USA, Americas Leading Lawyers for Business and Woodward White Inc.’s, America’s Leading Lawyers. He currently serves as the President of the Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators. He is also a member of the Tennessee Academy of Mediators and the International Academy of Mediators, both of which are invitation only associations.