Staff

Lisa Servon

Ombuds
servon@design.upenn.edu

Lisa Servon is the Kevin and Erica Penn Presidential Professor of the City and Regional Planning Department at the Weitzman School. A faculty member at Penn since 2016, she chaired the Department of City and Regional Planning from 2017 until 2024. She also served as a Provost’s Faculty Fellow for Community Engagement.

Dr. Servon’s research focuses on consumer financial services, financial justice, the carceral state, and issues of gender and race. Her most recent book is The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives. Servon holds a BA from Bryn Mawr College, an MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Urban Planning from UC Berkeley. 

Waged Jafer

Deputy Ombuds
wjafer@upenn.edu

Dr. Jafer joined the Ombuds office on December 1, 2022 as the Deputy Ombuds. Prior to her arrival at Penn, Dr. Jafer established the inaugural Ombuds office for Williams College in 2021. Prior to that she served as the Regional Ombudsperson for Near and Middle East with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. Her extensive experience in conflict resolution has been mainly in higher education in Canada. She has served as the Ombudsperson for Quest University Canada as well as the Ombudsperson for UBC-Alma Matar Society. For two years she served as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Specialist at the Independent Investigations Office at UBC where she was tasked to develop the ADR framework as well as Restorative Justice program for cases of sexual misconduct as well as harassment and discrimination in that office. She has worked as a conflict management consultant and a sessional faculty member while completing her doctoral work at UBC.

Dr. Jafer earned a bachelor’s degree from Carleton University and a Master’s degree in Conflict Studies from the University of Ottawa-Saint Paul and a PhD from the University of British Columbia.