Last October, Corey P. Pass joined the Ombuds Office at Iowa City as the Assistant Ombudsperson. In this new role, he reports to University Ombudsperson, Chanelle Reese, and works with faculty, staff, and students, including all of UI Healthcare. He also joins Meenakshi Gigi Durham, who has been the half-time Faculty Ombuds since July 2021. Pass comes to the Ombuds role after a 35 year career in law enforcement. He started at the University of Northern Colorado and later moved to the Estes Park Police Department, where he reached the rank of police captain before his retirement. Pass graduate ..read more

The Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services is seeking a Senior Conflict Resolution Officer Consultant to be based in Switzerland. The position will provide Ombuds services to employees of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Senior Conflict Resolution Officer reports directly to the Chief of Service, UNOMS and works under the general supervision of the UN Ombudsman. Applicants must have advanced university degree in a relevant area (or the equivalent combination of education and experience), ten years of relevant experience (includin ..read more

K-State is seeking applications for a Faculty Ombudsperson. The university has three Ombuds for employee concerns. The collateral-duty Ombuds serve staggered, three-year terms. The search will replace Tara Coleman and will join Jared Meitler and Alfred Cochran in the role. Meanwhile, Assistant Dean of Diversity, Recruitment, and Retention Kimathi Choma provides Ombuds services to students. The current vacancy is restricted to current, tenured faculty members. (K-State Today.) Related post: K-State President Promises Student Ombuds; Kansas State University Opens Internal Search for First Stud ..read more

In a webinar this afternoon, Mary Rowe will discuss Organizational Ombuds sources of power and influence, values, and effectiveness and how the IOA survey has been helpful to individual organizational ombuds and to the profession. The event is free, today, 25 April, at 12:00 PM PT / 3:00 PM ET. (IOA Webinar Info.) Related posts: Negotiation Journal Opens Access for Mary Rowe's Articles; (Guest Post) Mary Rowe Comments on the Proposed IOA Bylaws; MIT Digitizes Mary Rowe's Papers; MIT Marks Half Century of Mary Rowe's Service ..read more

David Heaton, who served as the University Ombudsman for Ohio from 1982 to 1991, passed away last month at the age of 88. Heaton joined the faculty at OU in 1969 and retired in 2004. In addition to his work in academia, he was a forty year member of Klanwatch and The Southern Poverty Law Center, and served as President of the Southeast Ohio Chapter of the ACLU for over a decade. Heaton was selected as the first recipient of the California Caucus of University and College Ombuds' Pete Small Award. (Ohio News ..read more

Valerie White, who established the Ombuds program at the liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, in 2008, has announced that she will retire at the end of June this year. The college says that White handled over 4,000 cases, involving 5,756 people, during her tenure. Lewis & Clark's President, Robin Holmes-Sullivan, said, “We are all deeply appreciative of how she has shaped campus culture during her many years here.”  White's Ombuds work capped a career that began quite differently. She started in banking and became a Vice President of US Bankcorp. In 1998, she moved to academia ..read more

The Education Department has issued updates to Title IX, the 1972 law that bars gender discrimination in federally-funded schools and, for the first time, clearly stated that Ombuds are a confidential resource for students. The inclusion of this language is a victory for the International Ombuds Association, which has advocated strongly for modifications to Title IX’s definition of confidential employees in order to better protect students, faculty, staff and other stakeholders. Here is an except from the new rules, which run to 1,561 pages and mention Ombuds just once: The employees who qu ..read more

Marie-Luce Falipou has been named the new Ombuds for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire)in Switzerland. She is CERN's fifth Ombuds since the office was founded in 2010 and follows Laure Esteveny, who is retiring. Like her predecessor, Falipou comes to the Ombuds role after a long career at at CERN. For the past 35 years, she has worked in human resources, most recently as an HR Advisor. Falipou will take IOA training and be mentored by Esteveny as she learned the position. Falipou graduated from Université d'Auvergne. (CERN New ..read more

At its annual conference last month, the International Ombuds Association announced its 2024 Trailblazer and President’s Award recipients. “There are so many talented ombuds serving their communities in so many vital ways,” said Alicia Booker, 2023 IOA President. “We are thrilled to honor them for all that they contribute to our profession, and for their extraordinary leadership,” added Sarah Klaper 2024 IOA President. Trailblazer Award Tom Kosakowski, JD, University of Southern California University Ombuds for the Health Sciences Campus, is the recipient of the 2024 Trailblazer Award, the ..read more

Brain Bloch and Elaine Shaw, CO-OP, have been selected to provide consulting services for NASA's Ombuds program. Together, they will provide training, develop materials and reports, manage a case management system, creating/analyze surveys, and provide policy and procedure support to 25-30 mostly collateral duty Ombuds. Their work comes through a contract between NASA and the McCammon Group, an ADR service provider that has recently added a panel of Ombuds, based in Richmond, Virginia. (McCammon PR.) Bloch and Shaw are both very experienced Ombuds and both have served on the IOA Board of Dire ..read more