Job Posting: University of Massachusetts Amherst

The flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system is hiring an Associate Ombudsperson. The full-time position will report to Colette Carmouche, who was named the University Ombuds in December 2024. The Associate Ombuds will assist in providing services to over 38,000 faculty, staff, and students, practicing to IOA standards.

Career Workshop for Ombuds in Transition

Vik Kapoor, an Ombuds Consultant for UNICEF, UNDP, UNWOMEN, UNFPA and UNOPS, and ICF-certified coach, is hosting a two-hour public workshop on Thursday, April 10, 2025. The workshop, "Finding Your North Star," is intended for professionals who are unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise facing a lack of clarity as they explore their career path. Kapoor will draw on a range of tools to help people craft their own personal mission statements and a loose action plan to get going. 

Midwest Political Science Association Adds an Ombuds

Sarah Klaper will join Tyler Smith as the Conference Ombuds for political science association's annual conference in Chicago, April 2-6, 2025. Klaper is the University Ombuds for Northwestern University and the current IOA Board President. (MPSA Conf Info.)

McGill University Sets Committee to Find Next Ombuds

The leading public university in Montreal has created an "Advisory Committee to the Provost and Executive Vide President (Academic) ... for the selection of an Ombudsperson for Students." The committee includes representatives from the administration, governing board, faculty, and students, and will oversee the recruitment and selection of McGill's next Ombuds. The University Ombuds is a part-time position that, along with the Assistant to the Ombuds, Carmela Parzanese, serves over 40,000 students. (McGill Advisory.)

Ombuds as a Solution for Academia’s Postdoc Bullying

An editorial in yesterday's Chronicle of Higher Education asserts that "a lack of oversight and accountability allows abusive faculty mentors to operate unchecked in research labs." This is a situation that many University Ombuds know well. The author, Azmi A. Ahmad, is a postdoctoral researcher at Yale, a notable R1 university without an Ombuds program. He offers steps universities should take to mitigate harassing behavior in their research labs, including the creation of an Ombuds program: 

• Overhaul grievance procedures to ensure that reporting mechanisms are clear, accessible, and effective. An ombuds office that meets international standards would provide a confidential, independent, and neutral one-stop shop for postdocs. 
• Offer robust protections against retaliation — including intimidation — and provide timely, decisive responses to complaints. Create pathways for postdocs to access letters of recommendation or even legal assistance in cases in which litigation is possible or their immigration status is threatened. 
• Improve the mentoring and supervisory skills of faculty members. Offer training on “bystander intervention” and on “how to be an ally.” 
• Commit to applying grievance procedures consistently and fairly — and then do so. 
• Evaluate academic departments to assess the effectiveness and compliance with institutional grievance procedures. The outcomes of complaints and evaluations should be reported to funding agencies and oversight committees. 

(Chronicle of Higher Ed.) 

Related posts: Letter to a Workplace Harasser; University Ombuds Remains a Goal for Faculty and Students at Yale; Podcast: Virginia Tech Ombuds on Academic Bullying; SHRM White Paper Promotes Ombuds as Tool for Workplace Bullying.

Department of Homeland Security Eliminates Classical Ombuds for Immigrants

An Executive Order one week ago slashed the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman. These two offices provided oversight of the for people with immigration-related issues related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Job Posting: University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The University of Maryland campus in Cantonsville (not to be confused with UM Baltimore in downtown Baltimore) is hiring its first Faculty Ombuds Officer. This will be the newest Ombuds within the University System of Maryland. The full-time position will report to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and serve nearly 1,000 academic staff, practicing to IOA standards. A hybrid telework schedule may be available. 

FOIA Requests Target CISA's Ombuds

A recently published log reveals that an investigator using the Freedom of Information Act is demanding correspondence from the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency's Organization Ombuds, Dallas Brown, along with other staff members. The FOIA requests seek a wide range communications with the Ombuds for May through September 2024.

Peruse Ombuds Dissertations at Nova Southeastern University

The Department of Conflict Resolution Studies at NSU Florida has been publishing its students' theses and dissertations since 2012. Four dissertations in the past two years have looked at the work of Ombuds and all are available online:

Will Work For Food to Host Ombuds Webinar

On April 24, 2025, Chuck Doran will present a free webinar for WWFF on "The Organizational Ombuds – What A Mediator Might Want To Know About This Unique Role." WWFF is a five-year old nonprofit that offers educational webinars by and for attorneys, mediators and arbitrators. In lieu of a fee, attendees are urged to make a donation to a local food bank. ;

Georgia Institute of Technology Selects Ombuds

The public research university in Atlanta has appointed Dona Yarbrough as its next Ombudsperson. She will reopen an office that has been shuttered since 2012. As the Ombuds, Yarbrough will serve about 38,000 faculty, staff, and students. Yarbrough comes to the position from Auburn University, where she has been the Associate Ombuds since November 2023.

Colorado Legislature Defunds Unfilled Courts Ombuds

Last week, the Colorado State House of Representatives cut the funding for the Office of Judicial Ombudsman. The program, which was approved in 2023, had a $400,000 budget, but had never been opened. Legislators, working to cover a $1.2 billion state shortfall were happy to reclaim the money.

SHRM White Paper Promotes Ombuds as Tool for Workplace Bullying

Kira Nureli, Ombuds and leadership consultant, is the author of a new white paper published by the Society for Human Resource Management. "The Importance of Workplace Civility" offers several strategies to mitigate workplace incivility, including Ombuds. Nureli, who heads Harmony Strategies Group, says, "Use a dispute resolution service or organizational ombuds to address civil behavior breaches quickly and thoroughly."

Gdańsk University of Technology Names First Doctoral Student Ombuds

Aleksandra Mielewczyk-Gryń has been appointed the first Ombudswoman for the Rights of Doctoral Students at Gdańsk Tech. She will serve about 500 graduate students at Poland's oldest technical university. According to a university announcement, Mielewczyk-Gryń will: Ensure compliance with doctoral students’ rights at the University; and Act as a mediator in conflicts involving doctoral students, seeking amicable and fair resolutions. 

African Union Adopts Charter for Ombuds Office

The African Union Commission has adopted "Operational Guidelines" for its Ombudsperson and Mediation Services Division. The document was finalized earlier this month and endorsed by the AUC Chairperson, HE Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the inaugural Head of Ombudsman and Mediation Division, Fouad Hendel.