The ombudsperson will:
- listen to all concerns and perspectives,
- provide a safe and confidential place to share issues
- assist students in navigating their way through university systems
- help you explore options for resolution,
- facilitate communication or mediate between individuals or groups
- remain impartial to all parties involved in a conflict
The ombudsperson won’t:
- advocate for an individual's personal position
- take action without consent
- act as a witness in a formal grievance
- keep identifying records
- violate university policy as part of a solution to your problem
Common issues and concerns that might be brought to the GPS ombudsperson. Note that this list is not comprehensive:
- miscommunication between advisors, faculty, supervisors and/or students
- conflict or struggles with advisors or peers
- interpersonal, intercultural and group conflicts
- confusion around policies and/or procedures
- perceived ethical dilemmas
- perceived unfair treatment, including bullying, mobbing and harassment
- impact of the university structure/policies on students
- If you are not sure where to take a concern, the ombudsperson offers a safe and confidential place to start and gives students the opportunity to speak and be heard by an impartial listener.
- While the GPS ombudsperson helps students explore options, it is the students that decide the path they want to follow to solve their issue.
- The ombudsperson can assist students in navigating their way through university systems and help them explore options for resolution, including facilitating communication between individuals or groups.
- The ombudsperson remains impartial to all parties involved in a conflict.
Rebeka Campos-Astorkiza (she/her/hers), an associate professor of Hispanic linguistics, is the inaugural graduate and professional student ombudsperson. She has been repeatedly recognized for her work with students since joining Ohio State in 2007. The Council of Graduate Students honored her with the James M. Siddens Award for Distinguished Faculty Advising in 2014, and she earned the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award last year.
Rebeka’s motivation as GPS ombudsperson is the satisfaction from working with graduate and professional students and her commitment to finding positive ways to bring about structural changes that will improve their experience at OSU. She emphasizes with the pressure that students feel during their postgraduate careers and believes that OSU can work towards a better learning and working environment for them.
The graduate and professional student (GPS) ombudsperson is an independent, confidential*, impartial, and informal resource for all graduate and professional students for resolving issues and conflicts, and for exploring options and making important decisions.
The primary mission of the GPS ombudsperson is to support graduate and professional students in addressing issues and challenges they may face in their academic and professional careers at OSU. The GPS ombudsperson addresses issues and challenges that students may face with faculty and advisors, within their programs or within the university at large, with the goal of supporting a positive learning and work environment and advancing fairness and equity for graduate and professional students. The GPS ombuds also serves postdoctoral scholars.
Note: If the graduate and professional ombuds might have a perceived conflict of interest in any given situation, visitors are welcome to reach out to the faculty ombudsperson instead.
Associate Professor
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Contact
Sensitive or confidential content should not be emailed.
Resources
Resources for graduate and professional students.
News
News about the GPS ombud.
* Please note that, while the ombudsperson provides confidential support resources for a wide variety of issues, the ombudsperson has reporting obligations with the Office of Institutional Equity related to sexual misconduct and discrimination complaints. Thus, while the ombudsperson will discuss concerns in these areas with sensitivity and keep your information as private as possible, confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. For confidential resources for concern in these areas, please contact a confidential counselor.
