Our Team

Dr. Emily Gaarder (she/her/hers) is the Director of the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota Duluth and an Associate Professor in the Department of Studies in Justice, Culture, and Social Change at UMD.

Since 2003, Emily has taught restorative justice at the university level and also for community groups and organizations. She loves to share how restorative justice can be used in daily life by everyone. She has trained hundreds of volunteers in the circle process, circle keeping, and restorative dialogue.

Dr. Mark Umbreit is a Professor and founding Director of the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking at the University  of Minnesota, School of Social Work. Mark serves on the faculty of the Center for Spirituality & Healing in the Academic  Health Center at the University of Minnesota, teaching courses on Peacebuilding Through Mindfulness Practice, and  Forgiveness & Healing. He also serves as a Visiting Professor at the Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee teaching a course on Peacemaking and Spirituality.

Ted Lewis has been a consultant and trainer with the Center since the summer of 2013. Since 1996 he has done a variety of work in the fields of restorative justice and conflict resolution, including work as a practitioner, program manager, trainer, writer, director, teacher, and consultant. Most of this work has been done through and for nonprofit organizations that have partnered with government agencies. He has also taught the Restorative Justice course as an adjunct professor at UMD Duluth campus.

Jacob Otis is a doctorate student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities within the School of Social Work, the Director of Programming at St. Croix Valley Restorative Services in Wisconsin, and an intern at the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.  

Laura (she/her/hers) is an intern at the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD). Laura has an A.S. in Psychology, a B.A. in IS-Psychology of Domestic Violence, and a B.A. in Criminology and is starting UMD's M.P.S. graduate program with a focus on violence prevention and community building. Laura will also be teaching the Intro to Domestic Violence course she created in the Spring of 2022.

Isabel Dokhanchi (she/her/hers) is a student and an intern at the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She is working towards an Interdisciplinary Studies major with a focus on communicating difference. She is also pursuing a Deaf Studies minor and a certificate to teach English as a foreign language.