About Our Team

Our Ombuds Office staff work as a team to provide services to students, staff, and faculty associated with the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus. This non-traditional team approach is grounded in the following principles:

• All our services are equally valuable to our office mission/vision and our community: visitor consultations, educational programming, and organizational change supports.
• All Team members can serve all constituents: students, staff, faculty, & leaders, as well as those in our wider community and profession.
• Each of us is capable of, and should feel safe to, provide & request help with any task, across any ombuds service area.
• All of us can, and do, serve as Learners, Collaborators, & Coaches for each other.

Mission, Vision, & Values

In our work, the Ombuds Team is guided by our Mission and Vision and Values. In addition, as a Team/Office, we:

• are purposeful and data-based in our strategic planning.
• engage in continuous improvement of services and processes.
• embrace a growth mindset for both individuals and our Ombuds Office
• strive to actively serve as a model to the wider UT System community and the Organizational Ombuds profession.

Standards of Practice & Charter 

The Ombuds Team are all members of the International Ombuds Association (IOA), and follow IOA’s Standards of Practice.  As evidence of our adherence to these principles,:

• Our Ombuds maintain or are actively seeking to attain Certified Organizational Ombuds Practitioner (CO-OP®) status from IOA.
• Our Team is supported by the University of Tennessee leadership as outlined in our IOA-aligned Office of Ombuds Services Charter.