The Ombuds Blog: Texas A&M Transportation Institute Creates Ombuds Program

February 02, 2022

Texas A&M Transportation Institute Creates Ombuds Program

The state transportation research agency and member of the Texas A&M University System has appointed its first two Ombuds: Becky Carranza and Chris Slape. Together they will serve about 700 TTI employees and students following IOA standards. They take on Ombuds duties in addition to their on-going work at the agency. Carranza is the Director of Risk and Compliance and Slape is an Ethics and Compliance Officer. (YouTube.)

1 comment:

Chuck Doran2/03/2022 6:02 AM
It's great that another organization has established an ombuds office for employees and students. Tom - I'm curious to know how the office can follow IOA standards when the ombuds also hold formal roles in compliance?
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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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