Seven candidates are looking to fill the two new ombudsman positions created last semester in response to recommendations of the Chancellor's Task Force for a Better Workplace.
Four candidates, from an initial pool of more than 200, remain in the running for the full-time EPA nonfaculty position. Three tenured faculty members are finalists for the second, half-time position.
People in the two positions will serve faculty and employees in settling conflicts before any formal grievances are filed.
"It's a barrage of interviews they're going through," said Frayda Bluestein, chairwoman of the ombudsman search committee. "It includes separate meetings with the chancellor, vice chancellor, provost, general counsel, the search committee and designees from Faculty Council, the (Employee Forum) and the Graduate Student Association."
Officials have conducted preliminary interviews for the full-time position with candidates Jacqueline Overton, staff development specialist at the Department of Public Safety, and Margaret Sloan of Sloan Mediation Services.
The remaining two candidates - Wayne Blair, ombudsman at Columbia University, and Molly McAvoy, ombudsman at Hamline University - have interviews scheduled next week.
The three finalists for the half-time position are Laurie Mesibov, a professor in the School of Government; Ellen Peirce, associate dean of the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Program at the Kenan-Flagler Business School; and Dulcie Straughan, an professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Candidates said the position will offer employees new opportunities.
Sloan highlighted the opportunity for the position to be independent of the University.
