Engaging Visitors: The Vital Functions of Ombuds Office Websites
15 October 2025
10:00-11:15 AM PT / 1:00-2:15 PM ET / 7:00-8:15 PM CET
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Registration
- IOA Members: Free
Member registration includes access to the live webinar and the entire library of on-demand recordings.
- Non-Members: $250 USD per webinar
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About the Course
This webinar will review the results of an extensive survey of Ombuds websites in higher education and engage participants in a discussion of best practices for website design. The websites of Ombuds offices frequently serve as the first point of contact for prospective visitors seeking the Ombuds services. Little has been known about the types of information available on these websites. This webinar session intends to create a forum for discussing how higher education Ombuds offices commonly organize and present information on their websites with a specific focus on the following elements:
- Ombuds office structures and organizational placement;
- Number, names and backgrounds of Ombuds; (
- Key constituents served (e.g., students, faculty, staff);
- Types of services offered (e.g., confidential consultations, facilitation of conversations, referrals, etc.);
- Clarification of what Ombuds do or do not do; (f) method of referring to the IOA Standards of Practices and Code of Ethics;
- Inclusion of the Ombuds Office charters;
- Availability of annual reports;
- Resources, such as institutional policies, tips and strategies for managing interpersonal conflict, etc.; and
- Instruction on how to contact an Ombuds.
Our team of three established Ombuds, an Ombuds coordinator, and a conflict management specialist from three institutions reviewed 160 websites identified from approximately 500 U.S. and Canadian higher education Ombuds offices. The categories of information listed above were extracted for examining the main trends and best practices in the reviewed websites.
Learning Objectives
After participating in this webinar, participants will be better able to:
- Describe the main roles and functions of Ombuds office websites in higher education.
- Apply best practices to organizing and presenting information on websites for prospective Ombuds office visitors.
- Identify opportunities for inter-institutional collaboration on website content sharing for time and cost efficiency.
Professional Development Hours
This course has been submitted for 1 PDH pending approval.
About the Instructor
Sara Kim, PhD, Conflict Management Specialist
Sara Kim, Research Professor of Surgery, received her PhD in Education in 1999 from University of Washington (UW), Seattle, Washington. Currently, she serves as Associate Dean for Educational Quality Improvement, School of Medicine, University of Washington. Dr. Kim is the inaugural holder of the George G. B. Bilsten Professorship in the Art of Communication with Peers and Patients. She actively leads research programs in conflict management and collaborates with a wide range of clinical, administrative, and educational stakeholders across UW Medicine. Since 2014, she and her team have developed training programs and taught over 10,000 healthcare professionals conflict dialogue and speaking up skills. She has numerous peer-reviewed publications in leading medical education and medical specialty journals, covering topics of communication skills for resolving conflict and negotiating power hierarchy. As a certified coach for emerging and established leaders, Dr. Kim partners with the UW Office of Ombuds and serves as a coach in Opportunities in Leadership Program. Lastly, she regularly volunteers as a mediator at the King County Dispute Resolution Center in the State of Washington.
Heidi von Harscher, PhD, FICPP, Assistant Dean of Professionalism
Heidi von Harscher, PhD, FICPP is the student Ombuds; Assistant Dean of Professionalism, and Associate Professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. A licensed clinical (neuro) psychologist by training she has spent much of her career assisting students and interns to develop and grow in and outside of the medical curriculum. Dr. von Harscher is passionate about spirituality, wellness, professionalism, systems, passion fatigue, and mindful awareness as is evidenced by her research on burnout, empathy, and resilience. In her next professional chapter, she is very interested in examining and facilitating professional wellness for Ombuds.
Ruthy Kohorn Rosenberg, Associate Ombud
Ruthy Kohorn Rosenberg is an Associate Ombud at the University of Washington, a role she has held since April 2020. The public university ombuds office serves over 100,000 faculty, staff, and students across three campuses, including a large medical enterprise with a medical school and multiple hospitals. In addition to her ombuds duties, she provides leadership coaching. Previously, she served as the inaugural University Ombudsperson for Brown University for eight years. Before joining Brown, she was the Director of Student Mediation at MIT, where she worked with faculty, staff, and students to build capacity within the community for effective conflict resolution.
Before her five-year tenure at MIT, Rosenberg served as Chief of Staff to three Deans of the Division of Biology and Medicine at Brown University in Rhode Island. She was also the Director of the family mediation program at the Cleveland Mediation Center, a community mediation center in Cleveland, Ohio. Currently, she is on the board and planning committee of the California Caucus of University Ombuds and mentors ombuds through the International Ombudsman Association (IOA).
With over 25 years of experience in conflict resolution and management, ombudsmanry, teaching, curriculum design, university administration, non-profit organizations, and board service, Rosenberg also served as an adjunct professor at Roger Williams University School of Law, where she taught divorce mediation and community mediation.
Tom Kosakowski, University Ombuds
Tom A. Kosakowski is the University Ombuds for the University of Southern California’s Health Sciences Campus. He provides ombuds services to faculty, staff, and students at five academic schools and a health system that includes seven teaching hospitals, clinics, and research facilities. Prior to establishing the office at USC in 2019, Tom served in a similar capacity as the Ombuds for the Health System at UCLA for 12 years. He also established the Ombuds Office at Claremont Graduate University and served as the Campus Ombuds at UC Riverside. He trained as a mediator with the LA County Bar Association and mediated cases for the LA Superior Court. Tom is an active member of the International Ombuds Association and served on its Board of Directors, including a term as President. He regularly teaches new ombuds as a “Foundations” instructor for IOA. Tom also publishes “The Ombuds Blog,” an independent news site for the organizational ombuds profession. This is Tom’s third career; he worked as an economist and attorney before becoming an ombuds in 2007. He graduated from Occidental College and earned his JD from Loyola Law School Los Angeles.
Maggie Counihan, Ombuds Coordinator
Maggie Counihan is the Ombuds Coordinator at the University of Washington a role she’s held since 2022. She is often a first point of contact for visitors to the office and helps with logistics for three Ombuds, and a Faculty Liaison program. Maggie has a MS in Conflict & Dispute Resolution from the University of Oregon and completed mediation training through the Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County in 2016. She has prior experience with large group facilitation for contentious public issues with The Ruckelshaus Center. Prior to working in the conflict resolution field, she worked in habitat restoration and conservation.
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