Helpful Documents
Lunch & Learns
The Ombuds Office Lunch & Learn series offers the university community brief, conversations, presentations, or Ìýworkshops designed to build practical skills, foster constructive communication, and enhance workplace and academic experiences. Hosted virtually, these sessions give students, faculty, and staff actionable strategies to navigate everyday challenges.
December 5, 2023Ìý
November 28, 2023Ìý
ÌýMarch 7, 2023
ÌýMarch 22, 2022
ÌýFebruary 15, 2022
ÌýDecember 7, 2021
August 31, 2021Ìý
March 30, 2021
January 19, 2021
ÌýOctober 27, 2020
July 14, 2020Ìý
June 30, 2020
June 23, 2020
June 9, 2020
May 12, 2020Ìý
January 30, 2024Ìý
August 22, 2023Ìý
May 16, 2023Ìý
January 24, 2023Ìý
June 15, 2021Ìý
August 13, 2024
March 19, 2024
ÌýDecember 6, 2022
ÌýNovember 15, 2022
September 20, 2022
December 14, 2021
May 5, 2020
ÌýJune 19, 2020Ìý
ÌýJuly 8, 2020Ìý
ÌýJuly 15, 2020Ìý
ÌýJuly 22, 2020
ÌýJuly 29, 2020Ìý
ÌýAugust 5, 2020Ìý
August 31, 2021
July 28, 2020Ìý
ÌýJune 30, 2020
June 16, 2020
May 26, 2020Ìý
April 1, 2022
ÌýOctober 26, 2021
Coursera Courses
Expand your professional toolkit with free, flexible Coursera learning opportunities. Gain practical skills in conflict management, communication, and navigating complex workplace dynamics anytime, anywhere.
Course Overview:
Do you know what an ombudsman is? Do you know they exist across the entire world? Do you know how an ombuds can help you? In his course, you’re offered a rare look inside the many ways ombuds facilitate building fairness, trust, and effective communication across various institutions and communities.
Continuing to break the boundaries of education, this course invites you to explore at your own pace and preference, a range of ombuds models and specialized roles, and learn how each type of ombuds enacts their own set of core principles in distinct ways. Through case studies, presentations, and discussions with leading ombuds practitioners, you’ll gain insight into the real-world scenarios that highlight ombudsman as dispute resolution professionals who navigate complex dilemmas, mediate conflicts, and empower others to influence systems for the better. Whether you hope to become an ombuds, establish a program, understand how ombuds compare to other dispute resolution models, or are simply curious about this fascinating field, this course offers an accessible and thought-provoking introduction to a role that helps individuals, organizations, and institutions thrive.
What You'll Learn:
Identify the primary types of ombuds programs and how they differ across sectors.
Recognize when and how ombuds can help individuals and organizations navigate conflict.
Explain how ombuds address issues, surface patterns, and contribute to improved systems.
Reflect on the various skills, backgrounds, and perspectives that shape the ombuds field today.
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Course Overview:
Abrasive employees rub their coworkers the wrong way, with behaviors ranging from mild offense to open attack. Their bullying behaviors cause interpersonal friction that grates on subordinates, peers, and often superiors, eroding motivation and disrupting the smooth flow of work. Employees in leadership roles can inflict especially deep wounds and intense suffering in coworkers, customers, clients, patients and/or students, disrupting productivity. Managing abrasive workplace behavior is no easy task, and doing it ineptly, or failing to do it altogether can have disastrous consequences for your organization, your employees, and you.
What does it take to successfully manage abrasive workplace behavior? It takes courageous intervention paired with psychological insight, otherwise known as Management Backbone. This course provides step-by-step guidance on how to confidently and compassionately intervene to stop the individual suffering and organizational disruption caused by abrasive workplace behavior.
What You'll Learn:
Identify abrasive workplace behavior (otherwise known as unacceptable conduct).
Motivate employees to correct abrasive behavior through Courageous Conduct Intervention®.
Learn how to intervene even if you haven’t directly observed the abrasive behavior.
Deal with defensiveness confidently and with compassion.
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Helpful Documents
Below are links to resources and strategies that can assist in theÌýresolution of a conflict or concern.
- Appropriate Use of Email
- Communication Roadblocks
- Elements of an Effective Apology
- Informal Mediation with the Ombuds
- Mediation and Facilitated Conversation Ground Rules
- Negotiation Strategies
- Online Mediation Guidelines and Ground Rules
- Practices of an Effective Listener
- Preempting Discord: Prenuptial Agreements for Scientists
- Resources For ARPAC Climate Report Recipients
- Responding to Critical Supervisory Feedback
- Retroactive Withdrawal Process and Considerations for Undergraduate StudentsÌýand
- Signs You Might Be A Toxic Colleague
- Some Considerations Regarding Advisors-Advisee Relations
- Talking With A Professor ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ YourÌýGrade; A Guide For Students
- We Have to Talk: A Step-By-Step Checklist for Difficult Conversations
Anti-Racism Resources
You may be wondering, what can you do? DonnaÌýMejia and Kirsi Aulin will talk through five elements that you can engage with:
- Meeting the moment with awareness
- Questioning with courage
- Listening with sincerity
- Learning about valuable resources
- Acting with integrity
CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin share an overview of the five elements of Staying In Conversation about Racism.
CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper dive into what it means to meet the moment with awareness.
CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper diveÌýinto what it means to listen meaningfully and wholeheartedly.
CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper dive into what it means to question with courage.
CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper diveÌýinto what it means to learn about valuable resources.
CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper diveÌýinto what it means to act with integrity.
CU ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Student Dialogues: Skill Building Dialogue Series
Center for Inclusion & Social Change: Let’s Talk, Let’s Heal Together and e-Let’s Talk Informal Consultations and Interrupting Racism Interactive 90 Minute Skillsoft Training
Center for Teaching & Learning: Inclusivity: Take Action Ideas
Office of Diversity, Equity & Community Engagement: Combating Racism Together
Office of Faculty Affairs: Academic Freedom Conversation
Office of Undergraduate Education: Combating Racism TogetherÌý
University Libraries:
University Libraries:
University Libraries:
Leeds MBA Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee:Ìý#BeTheChange ChallengeÌýcelebrating Black History Month
Angela Davis
Ìý
bell hooks (Gloria Jean Watkins)
Edward Said
Frederick Douglas
Ida B. Wells
James Baldwin
Ìý
Paulo Freire
Ìý
Ìý
W.E.B. Du Bois
Zora Neale Hurston
Dr. Robin DeAngelo's definition of White Fragility:
“White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium. Racial stress results from an interruption to what is racially familiar."
Peggy McIntosh's definition of White Privilege:
"How one’s gender/race/etc. may lead to unearned advantages and requires a willingness and structural understanding to recognize racism as a default system that institutionalizes an unequal distribution of resources and power."
Annual Reports
The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Ombuds Office serves as a sensor for campus climate and institutional health. While our individual consultations are strictly confidential, off-the-record, and informal, our Annual Reports offer leadership and the broader campus community valuable, anonymized insights and trends.