The Faculty Ombuds Office at Southern Oregon University is a resource for faculty who are encountering work/life challenges and issues in the work environment.
Faculty Ombuds are an informal, impartial, independent, neutral and confidential resource that faculty can voluntarily seek out to discuss a campus-related matter. The Office provides timely, off-the-record, respectful, non-judgmental, and objective conversations regarding academic or administrative questions, concerns, and/or conflicts. The Office also provides for informal mediation between parties.
Reasons to contact the Faculty Ombuds Office include workload distribution problems, promotion and or tenure issues, personality conflicts, salary concerns, student-faculty relations, communication challenges, and problem resolution. The Faculty Ombuds Office is an excellent resource if you are in need of a sounding board or if you simply are not sure where to turn for help.
Faculty Ombuds can clarify University governance structures and identify options available to faculty. Visitors are not required to speak with their students, staff, colleagues, chair, director, or administrators prior to speaking with the Faculty Ombuds. Additionally, in discussing work-related academic or administrative matters, Visitors are not expected to act on any information or options provided or discussed. Importantly, Faculty Ombuds do not advocate on behalf of a specific person or entity but rather support fair process and open communication.
SOU’s Faculty Ombuds Office is an organizational ombuds office and follows the Standards of Practice and the Code of Ethics of the International Ombudsman Association while adhering to the principles governing the University.
SOU Faculty Ombuds Services Flyer 2022
