University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine Announces First Ombuds

Joan Rentsch has been named the first Ombuds for UTGSM, which oversees graduate medical education and medical students at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Rentsch will "provide a confidential, safe space for GSM faculty, fellows and residents to discuss issues and perceived problems free from any possible retribution and to provide them an informal, independent, and impartial channel of problem resolution that is an alternative to formal processes." Her work will supplement that of the UT Campus Ombudsperson, Lisa Yamagata-Lynch, and Associate Ombudsperson, Brooke Wichmann.

Rentsch is currently an Adjunct Professor in the School of Medicine and a Professor of Communication Studies at The University of Tennessee. She has held a variety of administrative positions, including Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Communication and Information and Professor of Management in the College of Business. She graduated from The Ohio State University and earned a MS and PhD at the University of Maryland. She also recently completed IOA's Foundations course. (UTGSM News.)

Prior posts: University of Tennessee Searching Internally for Next Ombuds; University of Tennessee Announces Next Ombuds; University of Tennessee Expands Ombuds Office with New Associate.