The Ombuds Office
The Ombuds Office (at CU Boulder) provides informal, impartial, and confidential dispute resolution services for students, staff, and faculty. We assist people with interpersonal misunderstandings or disputes as well as those with concerns about academic or administrative issues. We attempt to help individuals resolve their concerns fairly and, if possible, informally. The Ombuds Office operates independently as a supplement to existing administrative or formal grievance procedures and has no formal decision-making authority. We do not act as advocates for either side in a dispute. Perhaps most importantly, we operate confidentially, which means we do not acknowledge who has--or has not--used the Ombuds Office without the permission of the individual (In some cases, even if we have permission, we do not acknowledge this information.). We report administratively to the Provost.
Engineers without Borders
Engineers without Borders at CU Boulder began in 2000 by professor Bernard Amadei with the goal of creating positive change for developing communities through the combined efforts of students, faculty, professional engineers and community members.We believe in change that can contribute positively to the communities in which we work; change that started now will provide new solutions over time; and change that can interrupt the cycle of poverty. We believe in the people in host communities who define the development projects and contribute to insuring ownership, appropriateness, and long-term effectiveness; people who can solve their own problems.We believe in partnerships with a broad cadre of institutional, academic, development, and engineering professionals who are willing to assist in building toward a more equitable and sustainable world.We believe in sustainable projects that are symbiotic with the environment, society, and culture.
INVST Community Studies
INVST Community Studies believes in the possibility of a just and sustainable world. We develop engaged citizens and leaders who work for the benefit humanity and the environment. In order to fulfill our mission, we offer: 1.) a comprehensive two-year Community Leadership Program (CLP) that develops community leaders who engage in compassionate action as a lifetime commitment, 2.) Community Studies electives that foster civic responsibility and leadership potential, and 3.) a Youth Council for Public Policy that empowers young people to use the democratic process as a tool for positive social change, and to be responsible citizens and advocates for their generation. The INVST Community Leadership Program is our flagship program.
Service learning (SL)
This is a pedagogical strategy that combines community service with classroom learning. It is a tool used widely by sociologists to encourage students to make connections between classroom learning and the larger community. The consensus of scores of articles and books written about the benefits of service learning is that service learning, when done effectively, greatly enhances the educational experience for students and teachers, and for the university and community at large.
Conflict Information Consortium
The Conflict Information Consortium is an interdisciplinary center which does research, teaching, and outreach on conflict and conflict transformation. Its primary focus is on finding better ways to approach very difficult and intractable conflicts. It produces two major websites: Beyond Intractability and CRInfo which stands for the Conflict Resolution Information Source. Beyond Intractability is an online "encyclopedia" on intractable conflicts with over 300 essays, 100 hours of expert audio interviews, and 1000s of links to additional references on the nature of conflict and ways of transforming difficult and enduring conflicts without violence. CRInfo is a clearinghouse of conflict resolution information containing searchable listings of 20,000+ webpages, books and articles and organizations on interpersonal, community, workplace, public policy, and international conflict and its transformation. Both contain vast amounts of information useful to students and faculty alike.