The Ombuds Blog: Penn State Creates Ombuds Program for Grad Students

September 17, 2021

Penn State Creates Ombuds Program for Grad Students

Pennsylvania State University has selected three faculty members to serve as inaugural Ombuds for a new Graduate Student Ombudsperson Program. The new program was developed by the Graduate Council with support from the Graduate School and will serve 14,000 graduate students. Penn State also currently has a University Faculty Ombudsperson, Mohamad A. Ansari.

The three inaugural ombudspersons are: Duncan K.H. Fong, professor of marketing, Smeal College of Business and affiliated professor of statistics, Eberly College of Science; Deb Kerstetter, professor emerita, recreation, park, and tourism management, College of Health and Human Development; and Patrick Lee Plaisance, Don W. Davis Professor in ethics, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, and affiliate faculty, Rock Ethics Institute. (PSU News, Grad Student Ombuds.

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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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September 17, 2021

Penn State Creates Ombuds Program for Grad Students

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