Mary Chavez Rudolph, who graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a bachelor's degree in psychology in the early 1980s, is returning to the university as interim associate ombudsperson.
Starting Sept. 13 she will work in the Ombuds Office on the Boulder, campus which assists faculty, staff, students and administrators in resolving and managing conflicts, disputes and complaints.
As associate ombudsperson, her duties will include acting as a neutral third party who serves as a listener and facilitator of communication between conflicting parties, and providing information about a wide range of informal problem-solving options.
Chavez also will advise people on appropriate channels, policies and procedures for resolving complaints, and will present workshops on the skills and principles related to conflict management.
She will be one of five staff attached to the Ombuds Office, which currently assists between 600 and 700 members of the campus community each year.
Chavez has been working at CU-Denver since 1996 as a professional research associate. Before that she spent four years as an admissions counselor at CU-Boulder, and two years as a student adviser at the CU Graduate School.
Besides evaluating applications, part of her job as admissions counselor was to develop, implement and evaluate recruitment programs, many specifically targeted toward ethnic minority students.
In 1992 Chavez got her master's degree in counseling psychology and counselor education from CU-Denver, and over the last three years there completed all coursework in a doctoral program in educational leadership and innovation at the School of Education.