What is your role and what are you responsible for?

I am the Student Engagement Officer in EPQ. I manage the National Student Survey (NSS) and the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES), alongside leading on the student engagement workstream of the Institutional Teaching and Learning Review (ITLR). As part of the ITLR, I support over 70 students in three different roles, and work closely with our Student Co-Creation Officers. I'm also the Assistant Secretary to the Student Learning Experience & Engagement Committee (SLEEC).

How long have you worked at Warwick, and what did you do before that?

I've been at Warwick since March 2022. Before taking on this role, I started in EPQ as the Academic Partnerships Coordinator, supporting the Partnerships team. Prior to that, I was a cultural heritage coordinator with an environmental consulting firm in America. Which is a fancy way of saying that I consulted with indigenous communities to safeguard artefacts and cultural landscapes.

What projects are you currently working on, and what's coming up?

Now that the NSS fieldwork is wrapping up, I've been preparing for PTES, which launched on 24th April. I've also been supporting students involved in the ITLR and working with the evaluation team to reflect on the successes and lessons learned in the student engagement workstream. Next up, I'll be focusing on how to report the NSS results once these are released in July. The questions and response scales changed this year, so we have a lot to think about in the survey methodology space!

What does a typical day look like?

An in-office day involves a lot of coffee and back-to-back meetings. When I work from home, I cut my coffee consumption by at least half and usually sift through emails, write up guidance and briefing documents, and review survey target lists.

What's your favourite thing about your role?

My favourite thing is seeing the impact of my work on the student community and feeling like I'm making positive, tangible changes to the student experience.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Outside of work, I like to rock climb, cook, and play sudoku. I sometimes crochet, though not as well as others in our team. I've also recently gotten back into reading after a long university-induced hiatus, and I play a lot of board games and host monthly board game nights!

What is your favourite book, and your favourite film?

My favourite written work is the comic book Saga, written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples. It's such as well-written and touching story and I really wish I could read it again for the first time. I don't think I have a favourite film - I'm more of a TV show watcher, and one of my all-time favourite shows is HBO's run of Watchmen.

If you could teleport anywhere right now, where would you go?

Growing up in California meant we went to Disneyland a lot and it's a while since I've been, so probably Disneyland. My best friend of over 20 years lives around there, so I'd love to see her too.

Cats or dogs? Tea or coffee? City or countryside?

Cats and dogs! We have two crazy cats named Ghus and Friendo (after characters from Saga - Ghus is ginger and Friendo is black and white), and are hoping to add a dog to the mix very soon. Tea is nice, but for me it'll always be coffee. I have always lived in or close to big cities, so I typically prefer them. But I also love spending time in the countryside and being outdoors.

What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?

Be kind to and patient with yourself.