Mary Rowe

Mary Rowe
Born1936 Edit this on Wikidata
Alma mater
OccupationOmbudsman Edit this on Wikidata
Employer

For the American science educator and education researcher, see Mary Budd Rowe.

Mary P. Rowe (born 1936)[1] is an adjunct professor of Negotiation and Conflict Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she specializes in the areas of conflict resolution, negotiation and risk management.[2]

In her 40+ year career as a Special Assistant to the President and Chancellor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Rowe became a model for the role of ombud.[3] Rowe was a founding member and the first President of the Corporate Ombudsman Association (COA), now the International Ombuds Association.[4][5] She coined the term “zero-barrier office” to describe the desired position of an ombud within an institution.[6]

In her professional and research interests, Rowe considers kinds of power in interpersonal negotiations and how to understand and address issues of harassment, dispute resolution and unacceptable behavior.[5][7][8] As an ombuds at MIT, Rowe has worked with people at all levels to develop techniques for dealing with reports of sexual harassment and all other workplace issues.[9][5][6] Her work informed MIT's first harassment policy.[10]

In 1973, she introduced the terms “micro-inequities” and "micro-affirmations”, building on the work of Chester M. Pierce on microaggressions.[6] Rowe and others recommend the intentional practice of using micro-affirmations to communicate that people are "welcome, visible, and capable" and improve academic and workplace culture for everyone involved.[11] Rowe also studies bystander intervention and its importance for protective workplace systems.[12][13][14]

  1. ^ "Rowe, Mary P. (Mary Potter), 1936-". MIT ArchivesSpace. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Mary Rowe". MIT Sloan School of Management. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sunter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference COA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference papers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Fay was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference issue was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Wiegand, Shirley A. (1996). "A Just and Lasting Peace: Supplanting Mediation with the Ombuds Model" (PDF). Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution. 12 (1): 95–146.
  9. ^ Bingham, Shereen G (2021). "Ombuds Work on Sexual Harassment Cases: The Power of Our Stories" (PDF). Journal of the International Ombudsman Association. 14 (2): 1–8.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference readings was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Molina was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Althoff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Somers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Rowe, Mary. "For the Hesitant Bystander Who Learns of Unacceptable Behavior and Wants to be Helpful: A Checklist with Examples and Ideas to Consider".