Job Posting: Office of Personnel Management

OPM is hiring a director for the Office of the Ombudsman in Washington, DC. The position is located in the Office of the Executive Secretariat and provides impartial, neutral, independent and confidential assistance to OPM customers and employees of the agency with issues of concern or complaints regarding quality and timeline standards, requirements and expectations or other matters affecting efficient operation.

Howard Gadlin on the Future of Mediation

Mediate.com has posted short interview with the Ombudsman and Director of the Center for Cooperative Resolution at the National Institutes of Health. Gadlin offers his perspective on the future of the mediation field and says that it will become another reasonably established profession, with protective guilds, credentialing standards and regulations.

African Ombuds Meet Next Month in Angola

The African Ombuds and Mediators Association will hold its third general assembly in Luanda, April 12-15, 2010. The Angolan Ombudsman, Paulo Tijipilica, saidthat the theme “Ombudsman and Good Governance” was chosen due to the specific work of this figure, who checks the illegality and injustices in administrative acts.

Berkeley Lab Announces New Ombuds Program for Staff

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has announced a new Ombuds service for staff with work-related conflicts. The service will be provided by the UC Berkeley Ombuds Office, led by Sara Thacker, beginning on Thursday, April 1.

Organization of News Ombudsmen Will Hold 2010 Conference in Oxford

The association for mainstream media watchdogs will convene May 12-15 at Reuters Institute, Oxford University in Oxford, England. The conference will feature a session on how news Ombuds cope with maintaining values and ethics in the new media landscape at St Anne’s College.

Tenth Annual ACR Conference Set for Chicago

The Association for Conflict Resolution will hold its tenth annual conference at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, September 1-4, 2010. This year's theme, “Many Paths: One Destination” recognizes the connections within and across ADR practice areas.

Google Voice Technology for Ombuds

Clayton Gilman's latest post at the Organizational Ombudsman Blog reviews Google Voice. He explains why Ombuds should consider this new phone service that utilizes VoIP telephone services and simplifies communications.

University of Florida Resumes Search for Student Ombuds

The public university in Gainesville opened a search for Ombuds an last October with the expectation of filling the position at the first of the year. UFL has reposted the announcement, but has limited the search to internal candidates. 

ENOHE-ACCUO 2010 Conference Embraces Diversity of Ombuds Practice in Higher Education

The 2010 joint conference of the European Network for Ombudsmen in Higher Education and the Association of Canadian College and University Ombudspersons in Vienna promises a rich array of information for Ombuds.

University of Georgia to Evaluate Ombuds Program After Two Year Trial

Two years after UGA created an Ombuds Office in response to allegations of harassment by faculty, a University Council committee is calling for an independent evaluation of how allegations are now being addressed by the office.

Ombuds are Important Tool for Dealing with Toxic Boss

An article in the Economic Times gives employees advice for dealing with toxic bosses. HR expert Adil Malia says the first step is getting a reality check from coworkers. If the problem is not you, but a toxic boss, she advises getting human resources involved.

Taiwan to Host 2011 Australasian & Pacific Ombuds Conference

After ten years of offering, Taiwan will host the 26th Australasian and Pacific Ombudsman Region Conference in 2011. APOR is a regional group of the International Ombudsman Institute. Taipei officials with Control Yuan, an investigatory agency that monitors the other branches of government, said improved relations with Hong Kong lead to the agreement.

University of Calgary Appoints First Ombuds for Students

The U of C has named Robert Clegg as its first-ever Ombuds for nearly 30,000 students. The process of creating the Ombuds program started three years ago when student leaders realized that Calgary was one of the few campuses without an office.  Although terms of reference have not been finalized, the search process quickly identified Clegg, who has been the Ombuds for Graduate Students since 2008, as the leading candidate.

Job Posting: Federal Student Aid

The FSA Office of the Ombudsman is hiring a Management and Program Analyst to serve as Team Leader in the Washington, DC area. As an External Ombuds, the position uses the values of independence, impartiality, confidentiality and informality to resolve student loan disputes and analyze case data for potential of program improvement.

UCLA Ombuds Office Marks 40 Years of Service

The Office of Ombuds Services at the University of California Los Angeles will host an open house March 31 to celebrate more than four decades of service to the campus.  An article in the staff and faculty newsletter profiles the office headed by Kathleen Canul and including Brenda Woods-Patin, Katy Kolodziejski, Thomas Griffin and Tom Kosakowski.

Job Posting: Wayne State

The public research university in Detroit has reposted its announcement for a Research Ombuds. The position will serve as a designated neutral or impartial dispute resolution practitioner for issues related to Sponsor Program Administration, and reports to the Vice President of Research, with a dotted line reporting relationship to the Director of Business Affairs.

Job Posting: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is hiring three Senior Ombudsman Specialists to work in Schaumburg, Illinois; Jacksonville, Florida; and Dallas, Texas. The GS-13/14 positions are External Ombuds and provide the Office Director and Office of the Ombudsman staff with technical expertise in assisting customers with loans at failed financial institutions.

Civil Rights Group Endorses New Ombuds Office at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a non-profit group that advocates for civil liberties in academia, has hailed the opening of an Ombuds office at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

Oklahoma State Appoints New Ombuds

In January 2010, Pauline Harris was appointed the Ombudsperson for the Oklahoma State University System, an institution comprising four campuses, two medical centers and 33,000 students. Harris concurrently serves as the Coordinator for Diversity Education in the Office of Institutional Diversity Department of Affirmative Action, a position she has held since January 2009.

Job Posting: University of Ottawa

North America's largest bilingual university is hiring its first Ombuds. The position will serve all of the university community, including the 38,000 students. The ideal candidate will have considerable knowledge of dispute resolution practices, principles and operational processes, and experience with diverse staff and multiple unions.