Western Michigan University Ombuds Reflects on Her First Year

The campus newspaper for WMU interviewed Kathy Mitchel, who has been the Ombuds since July 2008. She earned her BA and MA degrees from Western Michigan and has worked on the campus ever since. She describes how her perspective changed in the job:

When I first started, I thought, “I am going to have all these people come to me with their problems and I can’t do anything, this is going to be frustrating.” I don’t tell people what to do. I don’t go to the professor and tell them “you have to change this grade, or you need to do this, how frustrating.” But as it turns out, not being the person who makes the decision at the end of the day is actually really empowering because it frees me up to be able to help work the system for students, faculty, and staff.

(Western Herald.)

Related post: Western Michigan U. Selects Ombuds.