Faculty Ombuds Officer
The Faculty Ombuds Officer serves as an independent, confidential,
and impartial resource for faculty. 
The primary responsibility of the
ombuds officer will be to raise and clarify issues and concerns,
identify opinions, and request assistance to informally resolve
workplace conflicts. In cases where informal resolution efforts fail or are not advisable, the ombuds officer will counsel faculty of their
options for formal action and will direct them to the appropriate
university rules, resources, and offices.
CONFIDENTIALITY: All communications with the Faculty Ombuds Officer are held in strict confidence and are not disclosed without permission. This includes the identity of those seeking assistance.
INFORMALITY: The Faculty Ombuds Officer, as an informal resource, does not participate in any formal adjudicative or administrative procedure related to concerns brought to his/her attention.
A complete description is available on the Faculty Senate website at http://facultysenate.tamu.edu/FacultyOmbudsOfficer.pdf.Contact
Faculty Ombuds Officer
108Q YMCA Building
1126 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-1126
Tel 979.845.5776
email: benedik@tamu.edu
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On May 3, 2010, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Karan L. Watson announced Dr. Benedik's appointment to the position of faculty ombuds officer. The announcement read:
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Michael J. Benedik, professor of biology, has accepted the position of faculty ombuds officer effective June 1. Dr. Benedik was selected for the position after a campus-wide search.
The faculty ombuds officer, a part-time appointment reporting directly to the provost, will serve as an independent, confidential, and impartial resource for faculty at Texas A&M University. Dr. Benedik's primary responsibilities will be to raise and clarify issues and concerns, identify options and request assistance to informally resolve workplace conflicts. In cases where informal resolution efforts fail or are not advisable, he will counsel faculty of their options for formal action and will direct them to the appropriate university rules, resources, and offices.
Dr. Benedik has significant and diverse experience with faculty issues. As vice-chair of his department at the University of Houston he was responsible for faculty affairs. He was involved in establishing a mentoring program for junior faculty and had oversight of all promotion and tenure applications. He also served on both his college and university grievance committees. At Texas A&M he has served as vice-chair of the Faculty of Genetics and as director of the graduate program in the Department of Biology. In addition, he has served on the University Grievance Committee for six years and was elected by that committee to serve as chair for the past four years. He also has served on the Faculty Senate since 2005 and is presently on its Executive Committee.
Dr. Benedik earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. in biology from Stanford University. He has served on the Texas A&M faculty on two occasions. He first served as an assistant professor of biology from 1985 to 1989 and returned as a professor of biology in 2004. In the interim he was on the faculty of the University of Houston and a visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Health. He has also worked as a staff scientist for DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Palo Alto, California.
I have the utmost confidence in Dr. Benedik's ability to provide the leadership to guide and assist our faculty regarding workplace concerns. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Benedik on his appointment.
