IC Faculty Ombuds Team

What is the Faculty Ombuds Team?

A team of faculty ombuds each of whom is a faculty member with the rank of associate professor or above, working together to assist their faculty colleagues. 

 The primary duties of a Faculty Ombuds are:

  1. To work with faculty to explore and assist them in determining options to help resolve conflicts, problematic issues, or concerns, and
  2. To bring systemic concerns to the attention of the College for resolution.

Each faculty ombuds receives a membership in the International Ombuds Association. A Faculty Ombuds serves as a confidential (see below), approachable, impartial/neutral listener and resource for faculty members, helping to mediate conflicts, provide feedback, suggest referrals to other resources as needed, and foster respectful, inclusive, and ethical behavior and fair process. A Faculty Ombuds listens to the concerns of faculty, facilitates constructive dialogue, and assists in evaluating available options. Responsibilities include: 

  • offering confidential assistance to Ithaca College faculty of all ranks and positions with informally resolving conflict or other concerns, and issues related to employment, tenure and/or promotion process (including appeals or potential appeals);
  • offering guidance to chairs, deans, the Provost, and evaluative bodies associated with the tenure and/or promotion process in addressing individual and collective faculty concerns;
  • maintaining a deidentified log of faculty requests and records of de-identified information; and 
  • providing, as a team, an annual report to the Provost, President and Faculty Council, or other parties as appropriate, regarding all concerns that faculty have (i.e., reports are limited to trends, no identifying information or confidential information is relayed in the reports) and soliciting additional information to address structural concerns if patterns are found and recommendations need to be made institutionally.
  • One member of the team attends each Faculty Council Meeting ex-officio.

A Faculty Ombuds offers informal services and does not replace formal processes available to the Ithaca College community.

Confidentiality is Important

All communication to a Faculty Ombuds regarding issues brought to a Faculty Ombuds are “off the record” and confidential unless the information shared falls within a requirement where a Faculty Ombuds is a mandatory reporter under law or policy (e.g., Clery Act, or unlawful discrimination and/or harassment).

How to Contact the Faculty Ombuds Team

Please feel free to contact any of the faculty ombuds directly at their emails or write to the general faculty ombuds email below. Additionally, their drop in office hours are as follows in PRWC 134:

Dan Breen - Thursdays 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Kathleen Mulligan - Wednesdays 2:00-3:00 p.m. 

Jack Wang - Tuesdays 3:00-4:00 p.m.

Please note: Sending confidential information by email is discouraged as privacy cannot be assured in email communications.