Job Posting: Georgetown University

The private research university in Washington, DC, is hiring its first Staff Ombudsperson. The new, full-time, hybrid position will serve about 1,500 staff and academic & administrative professionals across five campuses and report to the Chief Operating Officer. The University Staff Ombudsperson will supplement the work of Georgetown's Student Ombuds, Daniela Brancaforte, Faculty Ombuds Office, Catherine Langlois, and Ombudsperson for the School of Medicine, Stacey Kaltman (all with separate offices and reporting lines, and all practicing to IOA standards).

Job Posting: San Diego State University

The California State University in San Diego has opened an internal search for an Assistant Student Ombudsman. The full-time position reports to SDSU's Student Ombudsman, Darrell Hess, and has been held by Karla Ramirez for two years. The Office of the Student Ombudsman at SDSU serves a student body of about 34,000.

UC Santa Barbara Onboards an Ombuds

Lise Prisarojn has been hired as an Assistant Ombuds at University of California Santa Barbara. She joins Campus Ombuds, Caroline Adams, and Associate Ombuds, David Rasch and Don Lubach. Prisarojn is responsible for undergraduate student cases and programming, office administration, and managing the UCSB Ombuds Instagram account.

Summer Internship: Department of the Interior

The Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution for the U.S. Department of the Interior seeks a graduate summer intern to join their workplace team. The position is a hybrid and reports to the office in Arlington, Virginia (Ballston) three days a week, along with two days of telework. CADR is looking for someone with prior experience in dispute resolution work. The position is unpaid, but is intended to provide professional benefits such as eligibility for public interest funding from the intern's graduate school.

Job Posting: [Swiss Insurance Company]

Multiple search consultants are recruiting for what appears to be the same Ombuds position with an unnamed "leading" "global" "insurance company" located in Zurich. (A search of job postings from the five largest insurance companies based in Zurich yielded no additional details.) The employer is ready to hire immediately for a one-year, full-time contract, which may be extended.

Ontario Athletic Therapist Association Names Ombuds

In April 2022, Kelly Marchuk was appointed the Organizational Ombudsman for OATA, the the professional association that governs the practice of all Certified Athletic Therapists in the Province of Ontario. The position was established in 2014 by Nancy Harvey and was later held by Carly Vandergrient followed by Susan Cameron. Marchuck has also been involved with the World Federation of Athletic Training and National Athletic Trainers' Association. She earned an EdD at Columbia University. (OATA Ombuds.)

Job Posting: U.S. Forest Service

The U.S. Department of Agriculture agency is hiring two Conflict Management Specialists (Associate Ombuds). The new positions will report to Mark Lewis, the inaugural Conflict Management Specialist Ombuds for the Forest Service, who is building out a program to serve about 30,000 USFS employees across the country. The work locations will be negotiated and telework is possible.

Job Posting: Green Climate Fund

The UN-affiliated fund that assists developing countries counter climate change is hiring its next Ombudsperson. (Kevin Brown has held the position for the past two years.) The consultant position reports to the Fund’s Executive Director and serve staff with work-related complaints, disputes and issues. The appointment will be as an international Consultant working part-time (about 145 days for the first 12 months) and mostly remotely. The consultant will be required to visit the Fund’s offices in Songdo, South Korea, periodically.

University of Wisconsin–Madison Names Second 2022 Ombuds

Last week, Emeritus Professor Thomas Kuech began a three-year term an a UW-Madison Ombuds. Keuch retired in 2020 and has spent the past two years served as a program director at the National Science Foundation. As a faculty member Keuch was a professor of chemical engineering and served twice as department chair.

Ombuds are Centered in ABA November 2022 Dispute Resolution Newsletter

The November 2022 issue of the American Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section's newsletter, "Just Resolutions," focuses exclusively on Ombuds. Ken Skodacek and Allison Monyei Whaley, Ombuds Committee Chairs, explain: "The mission of the Ombuds Committee is to increase the public’s knowledge of ombuds, as well as to promote the establishment and use of appropriately designed, supported, and implemented ombuds programs in all types of entities."

University of Pennsylvania Selects Next Ombuds

After a lengthy national search, Waged Jafer has been appointed the Deputy Ombuds for the private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Jafer will lead UPenn's Office of the Ombuds which serves 60,000 faculty, staff, and students following IOA standards. She succeeds Marcia Martínez-Helfman, who is retiring after more than a decade in the role, and joins University Ombuds Jennifer A. Pinto-Martin.

Podcast Interview with Pinterest Ombuds

Law and politics researcher İdil Elveriş has another podcast with an Ombuds for her podcast ,"We can Find a Way." This time, she interviews Donna Douglass Williams, CO-OP, the Head of Ombuds at Pinterest. Williams shares her perspective as one of the few Ombuds in tech and her experience with workplace conflict.

Job Posting: Marshall University

The public university in Huntington, West Virginia, is hiring its next Faculty Ombudsperson. The part-time position actually serves both faculty and staff. The University is located within the President's Community Outreach Committee and practices to IOA standards. The position was established in 2019 by Lacy Ward Jr. and has been held by La'Kesha Taylor for the past year.

Call for Papers: ENOHE 2023 Conference

The European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education seeks presenters for its first post-pandemic conference at Charles University in Prague on June 14-16, 2023. The event will be co-sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. A central theme of the conference is examining the impacts of the pandemic on the profession. Organizers are inviting contributions from speakers (including joint presentations) for a short and focused talk of up to ten minutes.

Stanford University Ombuds Releases 2022 Annual Report

Brenda Berlin, Stanford's University Ombuds, began publishing a yearly annual report in 2019 a year after she was hired. In her latest annual report for 2021-22, Berlin says that she saw 435 unique visitors, which represents a 10% increase from the academic year prior and an 18.5% increase over the last two years. In addition to case data, the report also outlines the work of an Ombuds and the top visitor concerns. (Stanford Ombuds 2022 Report.)