Don Lubach giving a Fast & Curious talk in 2017
Dr. Don Lubach, an alumnus of the Gevirtz School’s Department of Education, has been appointed to the position of UC Santa Barbara’s Associate Ombuds. He earned his Ph.D. in 1997 from the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education with a concentration in Higher Education Administration and Organizational Dynamics. Since 2010, Dr. Lubach has served as UCSB’s Associate Dean of Students and Director of First-Year and Graduate Student Initiatives, where he helped to lead the division of Student Affairs and redeveloped the Graduate Student Resource Center. He has also taught in the Gevirtz School, focusing on university success, and was a founding faculty member for UCEAP’s Leadership in Social Justice and Public Policy program in Mexico.
Dr. Lubach served as a career counselor for 20 years. “I see great possibility at the intersection of Career Education and Ombuds work,” he said in a statement. “Everyone in our UCSB community should, ideally, feel like they are in the right place, using their strengths, and working on goals that are aligned with their values.” His own career history at UCSB also includes Campus Tour Guide, Daily Nexus editorial writer, and dining commons plate washer. He has consistently embraced creative and technological means to achieve his goals of empowering diverse audiences through education. As an instructor for SBCC'’s Adult Education, Dr. Lubach created and led dozens of courses including “Human Solutions for Human Problems,” “What Matters Most,” and alternative transportation courses including one held on a rolling MTD bus. Dr. Lubach has completed the Foundations of Organizational Ombudsman Practice Course.
The Office of the Ombuds at UC Santa Barbara provides confidential consultation services to faculty, staff, students, parents, or anyone else with a campus-related concern. The ombuds addresses workplace issues, interpersonal conflict, academic concerns, policy questions, and many other problems, whether as a first step, last resort, or at any point along the way. The Office of the Ombuds is dedicated to ensuring fairness throughout the University and regularly makes recommendations for systemic change.