Every year, the Ombuds Blog attempts to recap the most important events from the profession. Traditionally, this begins with a survey of the people who retired and passed away, and a recap of new and closed programs. More qualitative posts will follow in the next week.
Retirements -- Several Ombuds announced their retirements last year, including:
- Jim Augustine, University of South Carolina
- Paul Kuerbis, Colorado College
- Craig Mousin, DePaul University
- Merle Waxman, Yale University (2022)
In Memoriam -- Colleagues remembered many Ombuds, including a beloved current and upcoming Ombuds, who passed away in 2023:
- Mary Childers, retired inaugural Ombuds at Dartmouth College
- Janet Eckhouse, retired Health Care Ombuds Mediator at Kaiser Permanente
- Curtis Grassman, retired Ombuds at University of California Riverside
- Jared Lee, active Ombuds at University of California Irvine
- Ian McDonald, retired Ombuds at University of Toronto
- Ian Neale, retired Ombuds at Brigham Young University Ombuds
- Francis Noonan, retired Ombuds at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- Linda Schieber, retired Ombuds at United Nations Development Programme
- Charles T. Snowdon, retired Ombuds at University of Wisconsin–Madison
New and Expanded Offices -- This year, 72 organizations created or increased the scope of their Ombuds programs (including a few that were overlooked or had a quiet launch in recent years). This was a significant increase from last year's tally of 52 programs and 58 in 2021. The increase in 2023 was not entirely surprising: there were a record number of job postings (143) in 2022. There were 138 jobs posted in 2023, so growth in the profession should continue.
The following organizations created (or expanded) Ombuds programs this past year:
- Alfred State College
- American Economic Association (revised from Classical Ombuds)
- American Planning Association
- American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
- Auburn Adventist Academy
- Boise State University
- Bowdoin College
- California State University, Monterey Bay
- California State University, Bakersfield
- California University of Science and Medicine
- Cambridge Innovation Center
- Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
- Charles University in Prague (Univerzita Karlova)
- Children's Literature Association
- City of Atlanta (2022)
- City of Philadelphia
- Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation
- Curtis Institute of Music (2022)
- Czech Technical University in Prague Faculty of Architecture (České vysoké učení technické v Praze Fakulta architektury)
- Eindhoven University of Technology (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven) (expanded)
- Erie 2 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES
- Eugene School District 4J
- European Central Bank
- Fayetteville State University
- Federal Housing Finance Agency
- Gates Foundation
- Georgetown University (expanded)
- Grand Rapids Public Schools
- Hampshire College
- Harris Health System
- Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority / Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit
- Human Factors & Ergonomics Society
- International Criminal Court
- Ithaca College
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (restored)
- Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
- Loyola Marymount University (expanded)
- Maastricht University (Universiteit Maastricht)
- Mercer County Community College
- MGH Institute of Health Professions
- Mount St. Mary's University
- Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
- Oakland School for the Arts
- OhioRISE
- Providence Swedish (2022)
- Quebec Health Center
- Root & Shoot (Plant Biology 2023, Botany 2023, and the IS-MPMI 2023 Congress)
- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Saint Louis University
- San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (2021)
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
- SOS Children's Villages
- Springfield College
- Tarleton State University
- Technische Universität Wien
- University of California College of the Law, San Francisco
- University Canada West
- University of Denver (restored)
- University of Houston–Clear Lake
- University of Massachusetts Boston
- University of Missouri
- University of Missouri–St. Louis (expanded)
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (expanded)
- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (expanded)
- University of Wyoming (expanded)
- Utrecht University (Universiteit Utrecht) (expanded)
- VID Specialized University (VID vitenskapelige høgskole)
- West Virginia University (expanded)
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- World Anti-Doping Agency
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 2023:
- Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
- Yale University School of Medicine.
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
- 2022 Year in Review: Transitions; 2022 Year in Review: Cheers & Jeers; 2022 Year in Review: The Big Trends.
FYI: https://hr.virginia.edu/benefits/uva-health-plan/ombudsman#:~:text=The%20UVA%20Employee%20Benefits%20Ombuds%20can%3A%201%20Answer,University%20offices%20or%20committees%2C%20as%20appropriate%20More%20items
ReplyDeleteThis is an employee advocate role that has existed since at least 2017. What am I missing?
DeleteHi Tom - I imagine there are many more than you list. As an example, our clients (we are outsourced Ombuds) do not wish to be disclosed and do not mention in any public forum that they have Ombuds services. This is a topic of conversation that seems to be a bit overlooked in your blog: those clients and providers who wish to maintain privacy about the Ombuds service and only mention it internally with their employees.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate this comment, Kira. You are totally correct and I could make this more clear. Many organizations create Ombuds programs that never get mentioned publicly. This is especially true in the private sector (and perhaps also government agencies that like a very low profile). Similarly, I also miss when organizations close their Ombuds programs.
DeleteThanks for acknowledging, Tom.
Delete