2021 Year in Review: Transitions

This annual summary of the most important stories about Organizational Ombuds news comes in three parts. It starts with a review of people who retired and passed away, and a recap of new and closed programs. Two more posts will follow before the end of the year.

Retirements -- Many notable Ombuds retired last year, including:

• Soucila Badaroudine, Sherbrooke University;
• Lydia Cummings, Harvard University;
• Glenda L. Dickson, Clemson University;
• Monique Laforest, University of Montréal;
• Steven Madden, Coastal Carolina University;
• Anita L. Pouliot, University of Western Ontario;
• Conchita Serri, Pomona College; and
• Charles Walcott, Cornell University.

In Memoriam -- Colleagues remembered several current and former Ombuds who passed away in 2021:

• Sharon R. Bailey: Denver Public Schools;
• Lynda Dunham-Wilke, University of Victoria;
• Laurie Mesibov, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill;
• Frances Gates Rhodes, Texas A&M International University;
• Sig Stautland: San Diego State University; and
• Liz Tomaszewski, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

New and Expanded Offices -- This year, 58 organizations created or increased the scope of their Ombuds programs. This was an increase of 23% from 47 new/expanded Ombuds programs in 2020. With a nearly four-fold increase in job postings in 2021, this trend looks to continue. The following organizations created or expanded (indicated in parentheses) their Ombuds programs:

• Acsenda School of Management;
• Allegheny College;
• American Chemical Society;
• American Literary Translators Association;
• Association for Conflict Resolution;
• Association for Social Economics;
• Association for the Study of Higher Education;
• Auckland University of Technology;
• Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard;
• Boston Children’s Hospital;
• California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation;
• Canadian Improv Games;
• Carnegie Mellon University;
• Cleveland Metropolitan School District;
• Columbia University (School Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology);
• Dakota State University;
• Denver Public Schools;
• East European University;
• Eastern Virginia Medical;
• Eindhoven University of Technology;
• Franklin University Switzerland;
• Gallaudet University;
• German Studies Association;
• Georgetown University (Students);
• Grand Valley State University (Employees);
• Iowa City Community School District;
• Johns Hopkins University;
• Kansas State University(Students);
• Khazar University;
• Linguistic Society of America;
• Loyola University Chicago;
• MacEwan University;
• Midwestern University;
• Northern Virginia Community College;
• Northwestern University;
• The Ohio State University;
• Omaha Public Schools;
• Pennsylvania State University (Graduate Students);
• Pinterest;
• Radboud University;
• Sandia National Labs [restarted];
• Society for Research in Child Development;
• Southern Alberta Institute of Technology;
• Texas State University;
• Twitter;
• Union of Concerned Scientists;
• University of California, Office of the President;
• University of Hawai'i, School of Medicine
• University of Iceland;
• University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, College of Engineering;
• University of Luxembourg;
• University of Michigan-Dearborn (Staff);
• University of Pittsburgh (School of Medicine);
• University of Texas Arlington (College of Engineering);
• U.S. Green Building Council;
• Utrecht University;
• Wake Forest University;
• Wesleyan University; and
• World Wildlife Fund.

Closed Offices -- It is notoriously difficult to track Ombuds offices closing, because there is usually no public announcement. Surprisingly, only one office was closed in 2021:

• University of Arizona.

Related posts:

• The Ombuds Decade in Review;
• 11 Stories that Shaped the Ombuds Profession in the 2010's; and
• 2020 Year in Review: Transitions; 2020 Year in Review: Signs of Hope; 2020 Year in Review: Courage and Crises.