2022 Year in Review: Transitions

This is the first post in the annual summary of the Organizational Ombuds profession. The look back at 2022 starts 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 announced their retirements last year, including:

• Roy Baroff, North Carolina State University;
• Kathleen Canul, University of California, Los Angeles;
• Josef Leidenfrost, Austrian Ministry of Higher Education;
• Marcia Martínez-Helfman, University of Pennsylvania;
• John D. McCamus, York University;
• Lies Poesiat; VU Amsterdam; and
• Gerhard Tröster, ETH.

In Memoriam -- Colleagues remembered several current and former Ombuds who passed away in 2022:

• Helen Davies, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine;
• James E. Huegerich, Town of Chapel Hill; and
• John Keene, University of Pennsylvania.

New and Expanded Offices -- This year, 52 organizations created or increased the scope of their Ombuds programs. This was a slight decrease from the record number of 58 programs in 2021. Job postings indicate that the growth in the field will continue: there were 143 postings in 2022 compared to 118 postings in 2021. The following organizations created or expanded (indicated in parentheses) their Ombuds programs:

• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank;
• Boeing Company;
• Common Cause;
• Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CIGAR);
• CVS;
• Development Bank of Latin America (CAF);
• Duke University (campus-wide);
• Elizabethtown Community and Technical College;
• Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service;
• Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts;
• Furman University (staff)
• Germanna Community College;
• Georgetown University (graduate students);
• Georgetown University Medical Center (faculty);
• George Washington University (health sciences students);
• ISD 622;
• Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine;
• Lamar University;
• Loudoun County Public Schools;
• Loyola Marymount University;
• Milwaukee Area Technical College;
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine;
• Newberry College;
• North American Network Operators' Group;
• Nova Southeastern University (College of Arts and Sciences);
• Pennsylvania State University College of Earth and Mineral Sciences;
• Philosophy of Science Association;
• Sam Houston State University;
• Santa Clara University;
• Shearman & Sterling;
• Smith Street Stage;
• Southern Connecticut State University;
• Southern Illinois University (faculty and staff);
• Texas A&M Transportation Institute;
• Texas A&M University (Registrar);
• Texas A&M University-San Antonio;
• U.S. Dragon Boat Federation;
• U.S. Forest Service;
• University College Cork;
• University of Houston (graduate students);
• University of Leiden (staff);
• University of Minho (institutional);
• University of Missouri–St. Louis;
• University of Northern Colorado;
• University of Peace;
• University of Tennessee (Graduate School of Medicine);
• University of Würzburg;
• University of Wyoming;
• Wageningen University & Research;
• Water Environment Federation;
• Williams College; and
• The Wildlife Society

Closed Offices -- It is notoriously difficult to track Ombuds offices closing, because there is usually no public announcement. (This list may be updated upon receipt of additional information.) These are the organizations that closed their Ombuds programs in 2022:

• CVS; and
• Twitter.

Related posts:

• The Ombuds Decade in Review;
• 11 Stories that Shaped the Ombuds Profession in the 2010's;
• 2020 Year in Review: Transitions; 2020 Year in Review: Signs of Hope; 2020 Year in Review: Courage and Crises;
• 2021 Year in Review: Transitions; 2021 Year in Review: Responding to Challenges; 2021 Year in Review: Setting the Stage for Positive Change.