I. True Stories about Ombuds Work and Leadership

The following essays are true stories that draw on personal experience and observations. The essay on using the values and mission of the organization is published with the permission of the participants.

Recent Submissions

  • A Bit More About Paul and Priscilla Gray 

    Williams, Clarence; Rowe, Mary (2017-11)
    Two former MIT organizational ombuds describe the contributions the late MIT President Paul Gray made to making MIT more welcoming to people of color and women.

  • A Nobel Prize Winner’s Life of Mentoring 

    Rowe, Mary P. (Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring, 2023-07)
    Former MIT ombuds Mary P. Rowe describes lessons learned about mentoring from a conversation with Dr. John Goodenough, who later won a Nobel Prize.

  • Becoming an Ombuds at MIT 

    Rowe, Mary (Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 2023)
    Mary P. Rowe served for almost 42 years as an early organizational ombuds reporting directly to five presidents of MIT. This essay recounts Rowe’s early experiences in this work as she applied for and then, in early 1973, ...

View more