American Educational Research Association Creates Ombuds Program for Annual Conference

The professional association for academic researchers will have Ombuds for its next annual meeting, April 5-9, 2019 in Toronto. The AERA Ombuds will be "neutral, confidential, informal, and independent resource" for conference attendees’ conflicts or issues, "including harassment, discrimination, or any violation of the AERA Ethics Code or Standards of Conduct." Shannon Lynn Burton and Carol Mershon will serve as the Ombuds.

Burton is the University Ombudsperson at Michigan State University and is very active in the profession. She is the inaugural co-chairs for IOA's Research and Assessment Committee; Co-editor for the Journal of the IOA; and served on the Title IX Task Force. Mershon is a Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. In her most recent NSF-funded project Mershon has developed strategies for diversifying leadership and addressing bias in political science and academe more broadly. Mershon has also served as the Ombuds for the American Political Science Association's conferences since 2017. (AERA Ombuds.)

Related posts: American Political Science Association Launches Ombuds Program; Michigan State University Promotes Assistant Ombuds.