By Roy Baroff, COOP® , Faculty/Staff Ombuds, NC State University

Hello, IOA -- from your Strategic Alliances and Partnerships Committee (SAPC)!  

We wanted to provide a quick update and extend an invitation. This is still a fairly new committee, and we’ve been working to build relationships to promote, provide member services and protect the ombuds profession. One project is to firm up connections with like-minded organizations, and we are working to confirm and document reciprocal agreements around conference invitations and exhibiting. Two are right around the corner, and you are invited to say hello and stop by IOA tables next week at the USOA conference in Hawaii (Liz Hill - Associate Director of the Ombuds Office, University of Colorado Boulder ) and ACR in Tucson (Caitlin Hendrickson – Ombuds Program Director, University of Arizona). Many thanks to Liz and Caitlin for representing IOA. If you are attending and want to help staff the table, then please contact them directly.

Other SAPC projects include support of Ombuds Day (IOA is an official sponsor), and we are also developing an expanded conference scholarship program for aspiring and new ombuds that we hope to have in place for IOA's 2020 conference in Portland. 

Finally, SAPC also invites you to get involved and consider joining this committee! We meet regularly via zoom at noon on the 2nd Friday of the month. Contact me (Roy Baroff, Faculty & Staff Ombuds, NC State University) for more information.