The UCSF Office of the Ombuds is seeking an Associate Ombuds. The full-time position will report to Director and Ombuds, Ellen Goldstein, and join two Associate Ombuds, Kate Flynn and Paula Trejo-Phillips, and Ombuds Coordinator, Jonah Pedersen. The Associate Ombuds provides impartial, informal, independent, and confidential services to faculty, staff, trainees, students, and Medical Center employees. Regular onsite work is required, but a hybrid schedule is available.
The Ombuds Committee of the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section is hosting a three-part series on the life cycle of an Ombuds. The first session is "Emerging Ombuds: New & Early Career Reflections" and takes place on February 24, 2026, at 12:00pm EST. All three sessions are open and free to nonmembers.
The United States Ombudsman Association is seeking plenary and breakout session speakers for its 45th annual conference. The event is set for September 2-4 at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme, Michigan. Speakers should be interested in sharing their knowledge
and experience relevant to the Public Service Ombudsman profession and USOA membership is not required.
The International Ombuds Association will offer its signature, in-person training only twice this year. (There are nine opportunities to take Foundations virtually.) The three-day training is set for May 4-6 in San Francisco, California, and May 13-15 in Ottawa, Ontario. Registration is now open and registration is capped at 36 participants for each course.
Karin Weißenborn has been appointed the next Ombudsperson at The Hannover Medical School in Germany. She follows Thomas Werfel, who served for 12 years in the role and who will now be the Deputy Ombuds. As the MHH Ombuds, Weissenborn promotes the fair resolution of conflicts of interest and helps clarify or prevent unfair work in scientific research at the university. She explained, "As Ombudsperson, I make every effort to resolve conflicts neutrally, objectively and in a solution-oriented manner, and I hope for the support of the respective parties to the conflict."
In a video interview conducted at the Society for Medical Decision Making last year, Scott B. Cantor recounts his professional journey from full-time decision scientist to Ombuds. (Cantor has been an Ombuds with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center since 2018.) In the interview, he describes how principles of decision science inform his current practice, including how he assesses options, supports difficult choices, and approaches conflict resolution.
The public state university in North Park, Chicago is seeking its next Ombuds. The search will reopen a program that has been dormant since 2022, when the prior Ombuds, Tyler Smith, returned to the National Institutes of Health. The NEIU Ombuds is a full-time, IOA compliant position that reports to the University President and serves faculty, staff, and 8,000 students.
The public research university in Iowa City has opened an internal search for its next Faculty Ombuds. (Meenakshi Gigi Durham has served in the role since 2021.) The part-time position will join an office that includes University Ombudsperson, Chanelle Reese, and Associate Ombuds, Corey P. Pass, . There is an on-going search for an Assistant Ombuds.
The American Bar Association House of Delegates has adopted Resolution 503, endorsing the Organizational Ombuds Practices Act and urging states to adopt it. The resolution reflects decades of ABA engagement with Organizational Ombuds work and marks a significant step toward clarifying and protecting standards of practice. The next phase will be state-level adoption and, ultimately, codification of the Act in statute.
An article published this week by the Algemene Onderwijsbond, the Netherlands’ largest education-sector union, reviews the implementation of mandatory university Ombuds offices four years after their inclusion in the 2021 collective labor agreement. While every university is now required to provide staff access to an Ombuds, the article reports uneven implementation, including departures and dismissals of Ombuds at some institutions. Interviews with practitioners and union representatives highlight wide variation in mandate, scope, staffing levels, and institutional support, particularly regarding whether Ombuds are empowered to conduct independent investigations and influence structural change.
In a recent post on his blog, Bruce MacAllister examines the growing confusion in Ombuds discourse around the term “embedded,” particularly when it is used interchangeably to describe both an Ombuds program’s structural placement and an Ombuds’ depth of organizational fluency.
URJ, the New York-based nonprofit representing over a third of adult American Jews is seeking its next Ombuds. The search will fill a position established by Caroline Cuneo in 2022. The remote, hourly contract role will provide services for community members across URJ worksites and programs, including 14 residential camps. The Ombuds will support individual conflict resolution, provide group facilitation when appropriate, and identify systemic concerns following IOA standards. The position is expected to average 15–20 hours per month and starts ASAP.
CU Boulder has hired Detric Robinson as Associate Ombuds. He joins an Ombuds office led by Director Kirsi Aulin and including Associate Ombuds Jason J. Sinocruz and two Faculty Ombuds. Robinson will provide services to students, staff, faculty, and administrators, and supports outreach efforts, focusing on undergraduate students.
At its most recent meeting, the WHO's the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board the Ombudsperson's 2025 report. Executive Board members expressed support for the Ombuds function and the need to ensure adequate resources across all regions. In response to the noted vacancies in Ombuds positions at headquarters and in the Africa, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific regions, the committee promised to expedite
Virginia’s flagship public university is seeking its next University Ombuds. The search will fill a position held by Amanda Monaco since 2022. The UVA Ombuds manages a program that serves nearly 40,000 faculty, staff, and students and supervises the UVA Health Ombuds, Henry Yampolsky, and a Program Coordinator. The position budgetarily reports to the AVP for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, but maintains strict independence in its casework and direct lines of communication with university leadership.
