My current role is PA to the Director of Education and the Director of Research in CoSS. I hope to be able to bring event planning and organisational skills to my role as a Birmingham Professional champion for the College. I would like to be able to develop event marketing skills such as creating and maintaining social media accounts and creating event invitations.  I decided to be a champion because I think it is a good way to contribute to the professional services team and make suggestions for events which I think that they would find useful.

As a Birmingham Professional Champion I find myself working alongside enthusiastic and dynamic colleagues. I hope this experience will allow me to develop my own administrative and organisational skills whilst at the same time putting my knowledge and experience of working at the University over many years to good practical use.

My first post in Higher Education was as a Resource Assistant in the Regional RE Centre based at Westhill College (now the Selly Oak Campus). Starting in 1986, I remained at Westhill in various roles including; Centre Administrator, finance assistant, publication sales and programme administrator. I was involved in the introduction of the new student loan scheme and can remember issuing cheques to students on their arrival! Westhill College became part of the School of Education (SoE) in the 1999-2000 academic year and since that time I have worked mainly for the SoE although I have had spells working in the Academic Office, Central Timetabling and the Business School. Current and more recent roles in the SoE include; Extenuating Circumstances Officer (previously mitigations) Reasonable Adjustments Contact (RAC), responding to complaints and appeals, plagiarism and the joys of timetabling. My previous experience helps me immensely in my current post as Welfare Officer. 

Many Professional Services colleagues do not see personal or career development as being something applicable to them or something they aspire too, I hope to use my time on the team to change at least some of those opinions.

The Birmingham Professional programme is an excellent way of meeting colleagues from different schools within CoSS and from across the University.

After working as a filmmaker for a few years after graduating university, I began working at the University of Birmingham; first in the Medical School, then Education, and finally Government & Society, where I have risen to be Undergraduate (Deputy) Manager. My role already involves some events organisation in the Applicant Visit Days I manage, and as this is my favourite part of the job I jumped at the opportunity to become the COSS Champion for Government & Society.

Having attended COSS Birmingham Professional events previously and been impressed by their high standards, I look forward to being involved in helping to deliver similarly diverse and exciting events in the future. I am also looking forward to building more links with colleagues in different departments and colleges, which will allow me to be more efficient in both this role and my regular job.

I have worked within the School of Social Policy since 2015 in the role of Student Recruitment Administrator. A large part of my role includes planning various recruitment events, this is an aspect of my role that I really enjoy and hope to bring these skills to the CoSS Birmingham Professional team. Since working at the university I have attended several Birmingham Professional events and have always found them engaging and beneficial.  I look forward to working with colleagues across the college and wider university through this inclusive forum.