December 28, 2021

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 MontrĂ©al;
  • 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:

2 comments:

  1. Do add Gallaudet University to the list of New/Expanded Offices. Thrilled to see the long list and want to see it a bit longer.

    ReplyDelete