Who We Are

Kirsi Aulin, Ombuds Director

Kirsi comes to CU Boulder from the University of California, Santa Barbara, having served in the Office of the Ombuds first as Associate Ombuds and then as Director since 2007. Also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Kirsi has worked with administrators, faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, children, families and AIDS patients. She is a trained mediator and a member of the International Ombudsman Association. Kirsi is a Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner™ (CO-OP™) and serves on the Board of Directors for the Board of Certification for Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioners.™

A national leader among ombuds professionals, Kirsi is also one of the founders of the Consortium on Abrasive Conduct in Higher Education (CACHE). CACHE is a national organization made up of leaders from all different types of higher education institutions - from Ivy League schools to large public research universities to smaller liberal arts and community colleges. The consortium aims to bring together university leaders from around the country to promote dialogue, research and thought leadership to resolve the problem of abrasive conduct in academia.

Kirsi is an alumna of Bryn Mawr College and holds an MS in Counseling Psychology from California State University, Northridge.

Elizabeth Hill, Associate Director

Liz joined the Ombuds Office as an Associate Ombuds in May 2016 and was promoted to Associate Director in October 2018.  Before joining the CU Boulder Ombuds Office, Liz served as an Arizona Assistant Attorney General, Assistant Ombudsman for the State of Arizona and Ombudsman for Apollo Education Group. Liz is a graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law and earned her B.S. from Northern Arizona University. She is a trained mediator and Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner™ (CO-OP™).  She is member of the State Bar of Arizona, International Ombudsman Association (IOA), and American Bar Association’s (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution. Liz currently serves as the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Budget Officer and Spring Conference Planning Co-chair as well as Chair of IOA’s CO-OP Recertification Committee.

Yem Fong, Professor Emerita, Faculty Ombuds

Yem Fong has served the University of Colorado Boulder in several capacities as a department director in the Libraries and liaison to Ethnic Studies and Women & Gender Studies. She has served on numerous committees including the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Committee and the Graduate School Executive Advisory Council.  She co-chaired the Chancellor’s Committee on Women for two years and is a founding member of the national Asian and Pacific American Women’s Leadership Institute/Center for Asian and Pacific American Women.  She is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and the University of California, Berkeley. Her scholarship focuses on scholarly publishing models and diversity and leadership issues for women.

Jerry Hauser, Professor Emeritus, Faculty Ombuds

Jerry has served CU Boulder faculty in several capacities. He was chair of the Boulder Faculty Assembly for two terms, was chair of the Communication Department for two terms, and served as a faculty mentor for the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program, with responsibility for new faculty in Education, Mass Media and the Social Sciences. Jerry is a trained mediator and a member of the International Ombudsman Association and the Consortium on Abrasive Conduct in Higher Education.  His disciplinary expertise in rhetoric includes rhetorical theory, political rhetoric and vernacular rhetorics of the public sphere.  

Georgina Getley, Ombuds Program Administrator

Georgina Getley assists the Ombuds Office as the Program Administrator. She strives daily to make our office a safe place to voice and clarify concerns, to understand conflict situations and to brainstorm action-worthy options and constructive responses.