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, a recap of new and closed programs, and a summary of job postings.
More qualitative posts will follow before the end of the year.
Retirements -- Several Ombuds announced their retirements last year, including:
- Twillea Evans-Carthen, Cal State San Bernardino
- Kenneth Freesemann, Long Beach State University
- Darrell Hess, San Diego State University
- Gabrielle Kluck, UN World Food Programme
- Stacey Marshall, Idaho State University
- Evie Nadel, College of Charleston
- Sara Thacker, UC Berkeley
In Memoriam -- Colleagues remembered many Ombuds, including a beloved current and upcoming Ombuds, who passed away in 2023:
- Joel Conarroe, retired inaugural Ombuds at University of Pennsylvania
- David Heaton, retired Ombuds at University of Ohio
- J Benton White, retired inaugural Ombuds at San Jose State University
New and Expanded Offices -- This year, 57 organizations created or increased the scope of their Ombuds programs. ) This was a decrease from last year's tally of 72 programs and more in line with the 52 in 2023 and 58 in 2021. The following organizations created (or expanded) Ombuds programs this past year:
- African Union Commission
- Alameda County District Attorney’s Office
- Allen College
- American Society for Aesthetics (divisional)
- Amnesty International, Italy
- Austin Independent School District (reopened)
- Baylor University (staff)
- Bridgewater State University
- Canadian Ski Instructors’ Alliance
- Carle Illinois College of Medicine
- Carnegie Mellon University (students & faculty)
- Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution
- Catholic University of America
- Central New Mexico Community College
- Cloud Native Computing Foundation
- College of San Mateo
- CppCon Dane County (Wisconsin)
- East Tennessee State University
- Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board
- GAUS
- The Hollywood Commission / MyConnext
- Hope College
- Howard University (faculty)
- Institute for Family Health
- International Association for Conflict Management
- John A. Logan College
- Kent State University (faculty)
- Leiden University Medical Center
- The MacArthur Foundation
- National Association for Business Economics
- OCP Group
- Orange County Schools (Hillsborough, NC)
- Partners in the Outdoors Conference / Colorado Parks and Wildlife
- Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois
- Prairie View A&M University
- Providence College
- Radboud University (staff)
- Sanofi
- Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
- Southern Oregon University (students)
- St. Johns River State College
- Sutter Health
- Tilburg University
- University of Göttingen
- University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
- University of Mississippi Medical Center
- University of Pittsburgh – Dietrich School of Arts and Science
- University of Rzeszów
- University of South Carolina (staff)
- University of Southern Mississippi
- University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine
- University of Texas Arlington
- Utah Valley University (faculty)
- Victoria University of Wellington (staff)
- Warsaw University of Life Sciences
- Young Harris College
Note that the list includes a few that were overlooked or had a quiet launch in recent years. The list also excludes programs created by organizations that have not made any details public.
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:
- Cal State San Bernardino
- Royal Melbourne Hospital
Job Postings -- Job postings continued to be robust with about 117 openings and RFP's in 2024. The total was down from 138 jobs posted in 2023 and 143 in 2022.
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;
- 2023 Year in Review: Transitions; 2023 Year in Review: Top Posts, Cheers/Jeers, and Courage; 2023 Year in Review: The Big Story.
Corrections? Please let me know and I will update the post!
ReplyDelete