Meet the NAU Ombuds

Laura Umphrey, Ph.D., Director

Laura Umphrey has been at Northern Arizona University since 2002. She is a Professor of Communication, former Director of the School of Communication and former Associate Dean for the College of Health and Human Services. Her Ph.D. is in Communication with a minor in Public Health from the University of Arizona. While pursuing her doctorate, she served as a mediator for the Community Relations Section of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in Tucson. She has mediated both civil and victim-offender mediation cases. Dr. Umphrey has taught courses in Conflict and Mediation, Interpersonal Communication, Communication Ethics, Teams and Leadership, and Public Speaking, among other courses. She participated in the University Leadership Program (ULP) in 2020-2021.  She has been trained in the Technology of Participation group facilitation methods and can offer facilitation workshops to departments on campus. Dr. Umphrey is passionate about helping others and is honored to help faculty, staff and graduate students clarify concerns and identify viable options for resolving issues through constructive dialogue. 

KT Thompson, Ph.D., Assistant Director 

KT Thompson joined the faculty at NAU in 2018 with a desire to serve students in the complex borderlands of what is presently known as Arizona. Dr. Thompson holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Davis, is the author of Blanket (Bloomsbury, 2018) and articles and essays on art and culture and serves as Editor of Creative Nonfiction 7 

for ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment). As Associate Professor of English, Thompson teaches courses in creative nonfiction, literary theory, and the environmental humanities, and is deeply engaged with research-driven, interdisciplinary humanities scholarship and writing that forward expansive commitments to equity and inclusion. Dr. Thompson was selected to be in the inaugural class of NAU’s Inclusive Excellence Fellows and is thrilled to serve as Assistant Director for the Office of the University Ombuds, where they can support faculty, students, and staff with active and empathic listening, and direct visitors to resources and structures that will help them thrive at NAU.