Robin Harkless, MS, Oregon Consensus Director
hrobin@pdx.edu | (503) 725-9099
Robin got her start as a mediator through community and court-connected programs, including juvenile victim-offender, small claims, and police-citizen cases. She joined a public policy dispute resolution firm in 2001, where she gained experience in applying the mediation model to address wicked problems that spanned the complex intersection of community needs and governmental authorities and obligations. She joined the Oregon Consensus team in 2016 and became the program director in 2023. Over the last twenty years, Robin's focus has been in natural resources, public health, education, and climate policy.
Robin has always been interested in the creative and practical potential of conflict - where relationships, ideas, and commitments can transform. Her call to service is in shepherding the constructive use of the conflict tool to help communities and governments work together through messy and complex public issues toward a common good.
She enjoys all things awe-inspiring: watching her beautiful children grow and explore, immersing in rivers, riding bikes with her husband, laughing with friends, and finding moments of stillness in nature, yoga, and music.
Robin earned a master's degree in negotiation and conflict resolution from Creighton University's Werner Institute and a bachelors’ degree in communications from Portland State University. In 2012, she received the Sid Lezak Award for Excellence for Outstanding Service to Oregon from the Oregon Mediation Association.