Job Posting: UC Hastings College of Law

The University of California's law school in San Francisco (to be renamed University of California College of the Law, San Francisco in 2023) is hiring its first Ombudsperson. The new, quarter-time position will serve all campus constituents and practice to IOA standards.

National Honor Caps Career of Austria's Student Ombuds

Josef Leidenfrost, who retied as Austria's National Student Ombudsman in April 2022, has been presented the Grand Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria in Silver. The award was given by Higher Education Minister Martin Polaschek and is one of Austria's highest national honors. Leidenfrost became the Student Ombuds in 2001, after a decade of work as an Austrian student exchange administrator. He was a founder of ENOHE, the European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education, and is serving as President through June 2023. (ENOHE News.)

Celebrate the Fifth Annual Ombuds Day

Five years ago, the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution declared that the second Thursday in October to be Ombuds Day. Since then, the event to recognize the work of all Ombuds has grown as practitioners and professional associations around the world have joined. For resources and a free webinar, go to ABA DR Info and the OmbudsDay.com. For the latest updates, including how different Ombuds are celebrating, check out Twitter #OmbudsDay and LinkedIn.

West Texas A&M has a New Faculty Ombuds

David Rausch has been named the next Faculty Ombuds for the for the public university in Canyon, Texas. He succeeds Gary L. Byrd, who served two years in the role. Rausch is a Professor of Political Science and has been a WTAMU faculty since 1998. (His name is similar to David Rasch, CO-OP, long-time former Ombuds at Stanford and currently at UC Santa Barbara.)

Common Cause Debuts Ombuds Program

Common Cause, a non-partisan watchdog group established to uphold the core values of American democracy, has hired MWI to provide outsourced Ombuds services to staff and management in their Washington, DC, office and in other locations throughout the U.S. Bathabile Mthombeni and Michael Stephens will serve as members of the Ombuds team from MWI. The confidential, independent, impartial, and informal resource will practice to IOA Standards. 

Ombuds at University of Tennessee Posts Annual Report

UTK Campus Ombudsperson, Lisa Yamagata-Lynch, and Associate Ombudsperson, Brooke Wichmann, have released their annual report for the 2022 fiscal year. In total, the UTK Office of the Ombuds handled 505 visitors, an increase of 26% over the prior year. The detailed, 26-page report also highlighted: day-to-day operations; operational growth; efforts in meeting the Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner Requirements; strategies for addressing prior year recommendations; and operational success indicators. (UTK Ombuds 2022 Report.)

Job Posting: University of California Los Angeles

UCLA is hiring an Ombudsperson for a one-year contract, with possible extensions up to four years. The position will report to Interim Campus Ombuds Thomas Griffin and join Natalie A. Landau and Brenda Woods-Patin. Meanwhile a search for a permanent Campus Ombuds is still pending.

Job Posting: International Committee of the Red Cross

The international humanitarian organization is hiring its next Chief Ombudsperson. The search will fill a position that has been held by John W. Zinsser since 2017. Based in Geneva, the full-time position directs the work of four regional Ombuds and a network of other collateral-duty Ombuds, represents the program internally and externally, and serves as the Ombuds for ICRC personnel in Europe, Central Asia and the Americas. The ICRC Ombuds is affiliated with the Executive Office of the Director-General and serves a four-year, renewable term starting about February 1, 2023.

Revealed: IOA's New Lobbyist

Last month, Ellen Miller, the Executive Director of the International Ombuds Association, announced that the organization had retained a lobbying firm. She explained that the lobbyist would focus on U.S. Department of Education (related to proposed amendments to Title IX) and more generally with federal legislators. At the time of the announcement, IOA did not name the lobbying firm. Now, the mandatory, quarterly filing pursuant to the Lobbying Disclosure Act reveals that Innovative Federal Strategies, LLC, is the K-Street firm advocating for IOA.

Pinterest Gains Second Experienced Ombuds

Teresa Ralicki has been hired as Ombuds Analyst at Pinterest, joining Head of Ombuds, Donna Douglass Williams, CO-OP. Ralicki comes to the position from the University of Colorado Denver, where she was an Ombuds for nearly six years.

Title IX Officer Also Serves as Ombuds at Florida Institute of Technology

In 2021, the private research university in Melbourne, Florida appointed Rebecca Crook as its first part-time Ombuds. Crook's other job, however, was Executive Assistant to the University President. By May 2022, that experiment was abandoned and Florida Tech opened a search for a dedicated, campus-wide Ombuds that would practice to IOA standards. Now, amid a flurry of departures from the administration, Florida Tech has hired Grace Gamage, who serves as the new, acting Title IX Coordinator and Ombudsperson.

Boston University Selects Ombuds

Riley E. Barrar has been hired as an Associate Ombuds at BU. She joins University Ombuds Francine Montemurro, and Consulting Ombuds Howard Gadlin, and fills a position vacated by Adam Barak Kleinberger. Barrar comes to the position from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she was an an Associate Ombudsman at the CFPB Ombudsman’s Office.

WEFTEC Appoints 2022 Conference Ombuds

Caitlan Hendrickson, CO-OP, will serve as the Ombuds for the Water Environment Federation’s 95th annual Technical Exhibition and Conference set for October 8–12, 2022 in New Orleans. She will serve as a resource for all attendees (over 9,000 last year), staff, exhibitors, and anyone else participating in WEFTEC. Hendrickson will practice to IOA standards and provide all consultations virtually on the 8th-9th and in person the 10th-12th. 

Faculty Ombuds at University of South Carolina Shares 2022 Annual Report

UofSC Faculty Ombudsperson Jim Augustine reports that he handled 44 cases in the 2021-22 academic year. He also notes that, "Over the past 16 years the Faculty Ombuds has personally assisted 778 faculty members for an average of forty-nine visitors per year." Augustine uses the IOA Uniform Data Reporting Categories to classify his cases. His public report also includes comments from a visitor survey over the past two years. (USC Ombuds Annual Reports.)

Job Posting: Harvard University

The private research university in Massachusetts is hiring an Ombuds I. The position will join an office of seven headed by Ombuds and Director, Melissa Brodrick. The job is hybrid and based in Boston, one of the office's two locations. Two days in the office per week is currently required with some flexibility possible.