Schedule for Fall 2026

Each semester the Ombuds Office offers a variety of conflict management and relational skill building presentations for students, faculty, and staff. This fall's series, The Human Advantage, looks at the skills that stay valuable no matter how much the technology around us changes: listening well, asking good questions, and staying in conversation with people we disagree with. All faculty, staff, and students are welcome. Grab lunch in the servery and join us in the Leach Dining Room. Registering here reserves you a seat and gets you a calendar reminder. Walk-ins are always welcome too, as long as we have room.

  • The Human Advantage: What AI Can't Do
    Tuesday, September 15, 12:10 - 1 p.m., Peirce L21 (Leach Dining Room)
    Artificial intelligence is changing what work looks like, and it can be hard to know what that means for any of us. This program looks at the skills that remain distinctly human, including listening, judgment, empathy, and the ability to help someone through a hard moment. Attendees will take stock of where these skills already show up in their own work and identify one to build on this year.
    Register here.

  • Making People Feel Heard
    Tuesday, October 6, 12:10 - 1 p.m., Peirce L21 (Leach Dining Room)
    Most of us listen in order to reply. This program draws on recent research from Alison Wood Brooks and David Brooks on what makes a conversation work, including how to ask better questions and how to make someone feel genuinely understood. Attendees will practice a listening exercise they can use the same afternoon.
    Register here.
  • Talking Across Difference
    Tuesday, November 17, 12:10 - 1 p.m., Peirce L21 (Leach Dining Room)
    Conversations about things we disagree on tend to go badly, and most of us have learned to avoid them. In the book How Minds Change, David McRaney describes what researchers have learned about the conversations that actually work, and why curiosity does more than argument. This program will introduce that approach and give attendees a chance to try it on a real disagreement.
    Register here.

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