Since 2006, the International Ombudsman Association has produced a newsletter for its members: The Independent Voice. Initially a quarterly physical newsletter, it became a blog in 2007. This week, IOA has moved it from the members-only area of the website and made it public. "The Independent Voice" is currently edited by Jennifer S. Schneider, Student Ombuds at the University of South Florida, and Bryan J. Hanson, Ombudsperson for the Graduate School at Virginia Tech.
The Department of the Interior's Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution (CADR) is
hiring a full-time Conflict Management Specialist based in Arlington, Virginia. The position will promote and provide expert assistance and support for all DOI bureaus and offices to increase and improve the use of collaborative decision-making and ADR processes (work that includes Ombuds services). Some travel is required (1-5 nights per month) and the position is also eligible for telework.
Cal Lutheran, a private liberal arts university in Thousand Oaks, California, has issued a request for proposals for Organizational Ombuds services. The university established an Ombuds program early last year with the appointment of Helena Goto and Alice Sarfati as Ombuds for its 445 staff members. The RFP indicates that the Ombuds program will now expand to 450 faculty and 4,300 students.
Gary L. Byrd has been appointed the next Faculty Ombuds for the public university in Canyon, Texas. He succeeds Harry R. Hueston, who established the position in 2013. Byrd is a Professor of Psychology and has been a WTAMU faculty since 1975.
The week, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (Vereniging van Universiteiten which was originally called Vereniging van Samenwerkende Nederlandse Universiteiten "VSNU") reached an agreement with four employee organizations. A significant concession was the appointment of Ombuds for Staff at all member institutions starting July 2021. Currently, Just half of VSNU members have Ombuds for Staff.
A new study published by the Center for Employment Equity at the University of Massachusetts Amherst aims to answer the question: What steps to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion are actually working. Sociologists David Pedulla (Stanford) and Devah Pager (Harvard) convened leading experts on bias, technology, discrimination, and organizational design. From this research, they found five key insights that can serve as tools for making their workplaces more diverse and thriving:
Amy Sereday has been selected as the first Staff Ombudsperson for the private liberal arts college in New London. Sereday joins David Dorfman, Professor of Dance, and Christine Chung, Associate Professor of Computer Science, who serve as part-time Faculty Ombudspersons for three-year appointments. Sereday will available year-round for all employees, faculty and staff.
Last week, Jennifer Crittenden interviewed a contract Ombuds for her podcast, Dear Discrete Guide. Her guest, Selina Shultz, owns a consulting practice, the Conflict Lab, that provides a range of dispute resolution and organizational services. The podcast is available free from Podomatic.
The academic health care system based in Salt Lake City has named Casi A. Morales and Joan Sheetz as its next Ombudsmen. Together, they serve more than 14,000 faculty and staff, and take on Ombuds duties part-time. They succeed Jim Ruble and Michael Cohen, who established the program five years ago. (University of Utah Health Ombuds.)
On May 20, 2020, JD Supra (a publisher of legal content) will host an online meet and greet with the new Ombudsman for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Marcus Stergio. The event is free and takes place at 2:00 pm Eastern.
Andrew Kunka has been appointed the first Ombudsperson for CSS, the professional association for the critical study of comics. Duties for the position have not been made public, but the Society is following the recent trend by appointing an Ombuds to help address historic gender bias. As the Ombuds, Kunka is a member of the CSS executive board; he also is a member of the Code of Conduct Committee. Kunka is a Professor of English at the University of South Carolina Sumter. (CSS Board; USC Bio.)
UNC Chapel Hill has opened a search for an Associate Ombuds. The position is part of an office that provides Ombuds services to more than 40,000 students, staff, faculty, and administrators. The position reports to the University Ombuds, Dawn Osborne-Adams.
Earlier this year, Jackie Concodora was selected as the first Ombudsperson for the public liberal arts university in Rock Hill, South Carolina. In the new part-time position, Concodora will serve 850 faculty and staff, practicing to IOA standards for an initial three-year term. She takes on the Ombuds role and continues as Winthrop's Director of Health and Counseling Services.
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education issued long-awaited changes to its Title IX rules, which will give new of protections to people accused of sexual assault on college campuses. The Department's new rules, which go into effect on August 14, were laid out in a 2,000 page memo. The rules explicitly address the role of Ombuds in higher education, prompted in part by public comments from the International Ombudsman Association and others in the Ombuds field. (Title IX only applies to schools that receive federal funds, so the new rules have no impact on Ombuds working in other sectors or jursidictions.)
Last week, Patricia Faison Hewlin began a five-year mandate as the Ombudsperson for Students. In the half-time appointment, she will head a office that serves over 40,000 students and handles about 200 cases a year. She succeeds Dimitrios Berk and joins Carmela Parzanese, the Assistant to the Ombudsperson.
In June 2019, the European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education and the University of León, Spain, held a joint conference. The proceedings from the event, "Defending and Protecting Rights within Higher Education: Stocktaking, Looking Ahead“ are now available online.
The Association of Higher Education Ombudsmen (Vereniging Ombudsmannen in het Hoger Onderwijs, "VOHO") comprises two dozen Ombuds at colleges and universities across the Netherlands. The association was formed officially in 2019, but originated in 2001 as the National Consultation Ombudsmen in Higher Education (Landelijk Overleg Ombudsmannen in het Hoger Onderwijs). The new website provides a history, news items, articles, and other information. Previously, VOHO's web page had been hosted by the European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education.
According to multiple Twitter accounts, the public undergraduate university in Edmonton, Alberta, shuttered its Ombuds office on April 30. Cathryn Heslep served as the Student Ombudsperson, serving a population of about 20,000, since establishing the role in May 2016. She had worked at the school in a variety of positions for over three decades. MacEwan has not yet made an official announcement, but has been eliminating positions due to a budget crisis that predated the pandemic. (Twitter @MinnieSherret95, @almcm_; Edmonton Journal.)
The International Ombudsman Association Board of Directors will begin offering a series of online "Community Connections" next week. These will be similar to sector forums that are part of the IOA annual conference, which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Community Connections will continue through the summer.
Steve Watter, who became the first Ombuds for the private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania last year, was profiled in a recent article for the campus newspaper. He admits that, despite a successful first year, the office continues to struggle with name recognition. “Has it caught on to the extent that I had hoped? I guess the answer is not quite,” said Watter. But, he added, “I think we’re getting there.” His efforts are complicated now as he is now working remotely. (Haverford Clerk.)
