Pfizer Ombuds Office Marks 10-Year Anniversary

The Office of the Ombuds at Pfizer is celebrating ten years of service to the American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation. The office has posted a celebratory video that includes thanks and encouragement from five of Pfizer's Executive Leadership Team members including the CEO, General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer. Sue Diviney is the Office of the Ombuds Lead and her team includes: Lourdes Delgado-Cheers, Global Ombuds; Tara Hunter, Specialist; Adam Learman, Global Ombuds; Elizabeth Lopez, Ombuds; and Sophia Qiao, Ombuds APAC. (Pfizer Video.)

Job Posting: African Union Commission

The administrative branch of the AU is hiring its first Ombudsman and Mediation Division Head. Based at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the position manages a department that provides a range of conflict management and employee relations functions. Duties include providing "services that are impartial, objective, neutral, independent, and fully confidential." The appointment is contracted for three years, including an initial one year period. 

Job Posting: Development Bank of Latin America

CAF, Corporacion Andina de Fomento – Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina, is hiring its first Ombudsperson. CAF is one of the main sources of multilateral financing for the region and has offices in13 cities. The position will provide Ombuds services to CAF personnel from the bank's office in Panama and report to the Executive President and Board of Directors. The position is described as "autonomous in a structural, operational and performance sense," and strictly confidential. 

WADA Reforms to Include First-Ever Ombuds

After two-days of meetings last week, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Executive Committee and Foundation Board agreed to a range of governance reforms including the appointment of the organization's first Ombuds program. WADA President Witold Bańka promised that an Athletes’ Anti-Doping Ombuds Program will be piloted next year. Although WADA did not specify any standards for the new Ombuds program, in October WADA's Athlete Committee recommended "a neutral or impartial dispute resolution practice whose major function will be to provide confidential and informal assistance to athletes bound by anti-doping rules under the World Anti-Doping Code." (WADA News: 8 Oct 2021; 25 Nov 2021.)

IOA Offers 10 Scholarships for 2022 Virtual Conference

The International Ombuds Association is offering a total of ten scholarships for its virtual conference, "Belonging Together: Reimagined," on April 4-6, 2022. Five scholarships will be available for Ombuds from outside the U.S. and five will be available for new and aspiring Ombuds. (Last year, IOA also offered scholarships for its virtual Foundations training, but that course has been oversold for months.) The deadline to apply for either scholarship is December 31, 2021.

Brandeis University Names Associate Ombuds

Esther Lin has been selected as an Associate Ombuds Officer at Brandeis, joining Don Greenstein and Mike Rozinsky. She comes to the position after working as a mediator and organizational consultant for The Mediation Group (where she completed a year-long fellowship and continues as a panelist) and MWI in Massachusetts.

Texas A&M School of Engineering Names Next Staff Ombuds

Todd Cottrell has been named the Staff Ombudsperson for the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. In this role, he "serves as a neutral, independent and confidential resource" for staff. He supplements the work of Anastasia Muliana, who is serving a two-year term the College's Faculty Ombudsperson. 

Ombuds at University of Massachusetts Amherst Posts 2021 Annual Report

Martha Patrick, CO-OP, the University Ombudsperson at UMass Amherst, reports that her office provided services to 430 visitors during the 2020-21 fiscal year. The office serves the entire campus and students comprised more than half of the visitors. As a share of visitors, staff declined significantly, which Patrick attributed to remote work and staff reductions.

IOA Seeks Nominations for Two Board Cohorts

The International Ombuds Association is asking for nominations for its Board of Directors. The election process is restarting after a delay to update the election process and other provisions of the bylaws. Now, there will be 15 IOA Director positions, with one seat reserved for an international member and a maximum limit of two seats available to candidates who are not currently practicing Ombuds.

Job Posting: University of Northern Colorado

The public university in Greeley has opened a search for its first University Ombudsperson. The full-time position will report to UNC's President and serve only faculty and staff. (The university's division of student affairs is considering a separate Ombuds for the 12,000 students.) The University Ombuds is expected to practice to IOA standards. 

MIT Digitizes Mary Rowe's Papers

An initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has preserved the work of Mary Rowe, one of the early leaders of the Organizational Ombuds profession. Rowe, who served as MIT's first Ombuds, donated her professional papers to the institute's library as part of initiative to archive the contributions of women. “We’re thrilled to be able to make this collection available,” says Alex McGee, project archivist for Distinctive Collections at MIT Libraries.

Job Posting: Jeffco Public Schools

The public school system for Jefferson County, Colorado is hiring a District Equity Ombudsperson. This new position will serve primarily the 14,000 employees of the state's second largest school district, which is headquartered near Golden. The full-time Ombuds will, "Serve the District as an independent, confidential and neutral intermediary support role; navigating informal complaint resolution and the formal existing complaint procedures/processes, as appropriate, to encourage a positive culture and climate in Jeffco Public Schools."

Growing Caseload Highlights 2021 Report by Ombuds for Canada's Auditor General

Janet Campbell, the first Ombuds for the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, reports that she handled 94 cases September 2020 to August 2021. This was a increase of 47% from the prior year and also reflected an increased rate of use by the departments' 760 employees. Concerns about wellness comprised nearly half the cases, including mental health concerns, work-related stress, burnout, stress related to COVID-19, and return to work. (OAG Ombuds 2021 Report.)

Job Posting: Transportation Security Administration

The TSA's Ombudsman Division is hiring two full-time Ombudsman Specialists in Springfield, Virginia. The jobs are within the Civil Liberties, Ombudsman and Traveler Engagement Office. Travel is not required and telework may be available.

University of Maryland Selects Faculty Ombuds

Psychology Professor Karen M. O'Brien will become the next Faculty Ombuds for flagship public university in College Park, Maryland. She follows Ellin K. Scholnick, who held the half-time position for over a decade.

Retiring Ombuds at University of Toronto Submits 2021 Annual Report

As one of her final administrative duties before retiring, Ombuds Ellen Hodnett tendered her annual report to the U of T's Governing Council. She reported handling 331 new cases in 2020-21, a slight decline from the prior academic year. In general, the concerns brought to the Office were comparable to those in prior years, with the exception of 29 cases related to Covid-19, which necessitated the creation of a new data category. Hodenett described consistent reports from graduate and undergraduate students of bullying and harassment by teaching staff and similar reports from teaching and administrative staff about their superiors. (UToronto Ombuds Report 2021.)

Trends Continue in Second Annual Report from Syracuse Ombuds

In his second annual report, Syracuse University Ombuds Neal Powless says that he handled 207 cases in the 2021-22 academic year. Powless again reported sexism, racism and fear of retaliation are serious workplace concerns for his visitors. Women brought 62% of the cases to the Ombuds Office and 52% of visitors were faculty. (Syracuse Ombuds 2021 Report.)

Idaho State University Introduces New Panel of Ombuds

ISU has updated its Ombuds Committee, which serves all campus employees and supplements the work of the Faculty Ombuds, Rick Wagoner. The ISU Ombuds Committee is coordinated by Stacey Marshall, an Assistant Director in HR, and includes: David Delehanty, Professor of Biology; James Yizar, Associate Director, Student Success Center; Kurtis Moser, Interactive Video Conferencing Classroom Specialist; Stefanie Shadduck, Management Assistant- Academic Affairs/Institute of Rural Health; and Todd Johnson, Director - Veterans Student Services Center. (ISU Ombuds Cmte.)

Members Broadly Support Changes to IOA Bylaws

At a Special Meeting this morning, a quorum of the International Ombudsman Association's members approved multiple revisions to the board election process along with a collection of other governance changes. It has been four months since the Board of Directors held an unsuccessful vote on a singular proposal which incorporated all of the same changes. The vote today clears the way for Board elections, a change to a gender neutral terminology, and other changes that will bring operations into line with other professional associations.

Job Posting: University of Minnesota

The public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul is hiring its next Director & Ombud of the Student Conflict Resolution Center. (Jan Morse is retiring from the role after 32 years.) The position leads a program that serves 30,000 undergraduate students, 17,000 graduate and professional students, postdocs, and medical residents. Ombuds services are provided following IOA and ACCUO standards. The position supervises SCRC staff (including Assistant Director and University Ombudsman Michael V. Huyen) and reports to the Assistant Vice Provost for Student Advocacy and Support.