Helpful Documents

Lunch & Learns

The Ombuds Office Lunch & Learn series offers the university community brief, conversations, presentations, or  workshops designed to build practical skills, foster constructive communication, and enhance workplace and academic experiences. Hosted virtually, these sessions give students, faculty, and staff actionable strategies to navigate everyday challenges.

  Access All Lunch & Learn Recordings on our Youtube Channel!

Repair After Rupture December 5, 2023 

The Power of Micro-Affirmations November 28, 2023 

Beyond Defensiveness: Preparing for Emotionally Intelligent Conflict March 7, 2023

Keeping Conflict Productive: The Art of Self-Regulation and Disrupting Defensiveness March 22, 2022

Non-Defensive Communication: The Prediction (Part 3 of 3) February 15, 2022

Non-Defensive Communication: The Statement (Part 2 of 3) December 7, 2021

Dancing with Foes: Rethinking Negotiation August 31, 2021 

Non-Defensive Communication: What's In A Question? (Part 1 of 3) March 30, 2021

Overcoming Cognitive Biases in Conflict Resolution January 19, 2021

De-escalating Tensions: Flight-Fight and the Communication Option October 27, 2020

Things Aren't Always As They Seem - How Our Brains Create Errors and Biases July 14, 2020 

Embrace The Emotions: Five Core Concerns Of Negotiation June 30, 2020

Grad Student Special: Managing Good Relations With Your Advisor: Communicate, Collaborate, Activate June 23, 2020

Apologies - So Why Won't You Apologize? June 9, 2020

What Did You Say? May 12, 2020 

Skill Builders

Build practical skills that can help you navigate challenges, communicate effectively, and work through conflict with greater confidence.

Skill Builders offers easy-to-use resources designed for anyone in the university community—from students encountering new situations to faculty and staff navigating complex conversations. Explore guides, tools, and strategies that you can use on your own or alongside support from the Ombuds Office.

E-Books, Books, and Articles

Whether you are seeking insightful strategies for managing conflict, tools for effective communication, or deeper perspectives on workplace and personal dynamics, these resources offer practical guidance and valuable insights. Explore our top recommendations below to support your ongoing personal and professional learning journey.

Coursera Courses

Expand your professional toolkit with free, flexible Coursera learning opportunities. Gain practical skills in conflict management, communication, and navigating complex workplace dynamics anytime, anywhere.

Course Overview:

Do you know what an ombudsman is? Do you know they exist across the entire world? Do you know how an ombuds can help you? In his course, you’re offered a rare look inside the many ways ombuds facilitate building fairness, trust, and effective communication across various institutions and communities.

Continuing to break the boundaries of education, this course invites you to explore at your own pace and preference, a range of ombuds models and specialized roles, and learn how each type of ombuds enacts their own set of core principles in distinct ways. Through case studies, presentations, and discussions with leading ombuds practitioners, you’ll gain insight into the real-world scenarios that highlight ombudsman as dispute resolution professionals who navigate complex dilemmas, mediate conflicts, and empower others to influence systems for the better. Whether you hope to become an ombuds, establish a program, understand how ombuds compare to other dispute resolution models, or are simply curious about this fascinating field, this course offers an accessible and thought-provoking introduction to a role that helps individuals, organizations, and institutions thrive.

What You'll Learn:

  • Identify the primary types of ombuds programs and how they differ across sectors.

  • Recognize when and how ombuds can help individuals and organizations navigate conflict.

  • Explain how ombuds address issues, surface patterns, and contribute to improved systems.

  • Reflect on the various skills, backgrounds, and perspectives that shape the ombuds field today.

Access the Course: Ombudsman: A Unique Role in Dispute Resolution

Course Overview:

Abrasive employees rub their coworkers the wrong way, with behaviors ranging from mild offense to open attack. Their bullying behaviors cause interpersonal friction that grates on subordinates, peers, and often superiors, eroding motivation and disrupting the smooth flow of work. Employees in leadership roles can inflict especially deep wounds and intense suffering in coworkers, customers, clients, patients and/or students, disrupting productivity. Managing abrasive workplace behavior is no easy task, and doing it ineptly, or failing to do it altogether can have disastrous consequences for your organization, your employees, and you.

What does it take to successfully manage abrasive workplace behavior? It takes courageous intervention paired with psychological insight, otherwise known as Management Backbone. This course provides step-by-step guidance on how to confidently and compassionately intervene to stop the individual suffering and organizational disruption caused by abrasive workplace behavior.

What You'll Learn:

  • Identify abrasive workplace behavior (otherwise known as unacceptable conduct).

  • Motivate employees to correct abrasive behavior through Courageous Conduct Intervention®.

  • Learn how to intervene even if you haven’t directly observed the abrasive behavior.

  • Deal with defensiveness confidently and with compassion.

Access the Course:Manage Abrasive Workplace Behavior With Backbone

Anti-Racism Resources

CU Boulder's Anti-Racism Resources guide is intended to connect the CU community with an array of anti-racism resources to contribute to learning, dialogue, and change.

You may be wondering, what can you do? Donna Mejia and Kirsi Aulin will talk through five elements that you can engage with:

  • Meeting the moment with awareness
  • Questioning with courage
  • Listening with sincerity
  • Learning about valuable resources
  • Acting with integrity

Staying In Conversation About Racism, Part 1 of 6, What Can I Do?
CU Boulder Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU Boulder Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin share an overview of the five elements of Staying In Conversation about Racism.

Staying in Conversation About Racism, Part 2 of 6, Meeting the Moment with Awareness 
CU Boulder Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU Boulder Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper dive into what it means to meet the moment with awareness.

Staying in Conversation About Racism, Part 3 of 6, Listening Meaningfully and Wholeheartedly
CU Boulder Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU Boulder Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper dive into what it means to listen meaningfully and wholeheartedly.

Staying in Conversation About Racism, Part 4 of 6, Questioning with Courage
CU Boulder Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU Boulder Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper dive into what it means to question with courage.

Staying in Conversation About Racism, Part 5 of 6, Learning About Valuable Resources
CU Boulder Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU Boulder Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper dive into what it means to learn about valuable resources.

Staying in Conversation About Racism, Part 6 of 6, Acting with Integrity
CU Boulder Associate Professor Donna Mejia and CU Boulder Ombuds Office Director Kirsi Aulin take a deeper dive into what it means to act with integrity.

CU Boulder Student Dialogues: Skill Building Dialogue Series

Center for Inclusion & Social Change: Let’s Talk, Let’s Heal Together and e-Let’s Talk Informal Consultations and Interrupting Racism Interactive 90 Minute Skillsoft Training

Center for Teaching & Learning: Inclusivity: Take Action Ideas

Office of Diversity, Equity & Community Engagement: Combating Racism Together

Office of Faculty Affairs: Academic Freedom Conversation

Office of Undergraduate Education: Combating Racism Together 

University Libraries: Anti-Racism Resource Guide

University Libraries: Cultural Competence Guide

University Libraries: Indigenous Knowledge Guide

Leeds MBA Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee: #BeTheChange Challenge celebrating Black History Month

Angela Davis

Bantu Stephen Biko 

bell hooks (Gloria Jean Watkins)

Edward Said

Frederick Douglas

Ida B. Wells

James Baldwin

Nelson Mandela 

Paulo Freire

Sojourner Truth 

Victor Frankl 

W.E.B. Du Bois

Zora Neale Hurston

Cultural Racism Definition

Dr. Robin DeAngelo's definition of White Fragility:

“White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium. Racial stress results from an interruption to what is racially familiar."

Peggy McIntosh's definition of White Privilege:

"How one’s gender/race/etc. may lead to unearned advantages and requires a willingness and structural understanding to recognize racism as a default system that institutionalizes an unequal distribution of resources and power."

Annual Reports

The University of Colorado Boulder Ombuds Office serves as a sensor for campus climate and institutional health. While our individual consultations are strictly confidential, off-the-record, and informal, our Annual Reports offer leadership and the broader campus community valuable, anonymized insights and trends.