The Ombuds Blog: American Public University Establishes Ombuds Office

April 25, 2016

American Public University Establishes Ombuds Office

The for-profit, online learning institution that is composed of American Military University and American Public University has opened an Office of the Ombuds for its 100,000 plus students. Lynn Wallace established the position in September 2015 and a website for the new program recently went online. The APU Ombuds explicitly practices to IOA standards.

Wallace previously was Vice President of Institutional Accreditation and has been with the university since May 2004. She graduated from Springfield College and earned a Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Wallace is a doctoral candidate in the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Doctorate Program, Graduate School of Education and she is working towards her certification as an Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner. (APU Ombuds; LinkedIn.)

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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Austria -- Ombudsstelle

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany -- Ombudspersonen

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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