Following a career in business, I came to Oxford in 1990 as a mature student undergraduate at St Hilda’s reading PPP. I continued with a DPhil in Visual Neuroscience with Professor Alan Cowey and then worked on Alan’s research team for a while, at the same time becoming a College Lecturer for St Hilda’s. When I saw an advertisement in 1998 for the post of Home Bursar at Queen’s, I realised that my business background, and academic experience would give me a good understanding of the needs of the Queen’s community, so I applied for the post.
A busy and exciting time followed during which many major changes took place in the College, including the building of the new underground kitchen, the SCR dining room, the installation of en-suite facilities in the Back Quad, the total refurbishment and extension of Carrodus Quad, the building of the new Auditorium, the refurbishment of the historic Library, and the development of the New Underground Library.
With the support and efforts of David Goddard, the then Clerk of Works, and Sue Tutty, our Steward, we also made huge changes in the standard of the College Buildings and the décor of the College rooms. As a result of this, Sarah Daley, our Conference Manager, and her team created a thriving conference business.
More recently, since retiring from Queen’s, I have acted as an Interim Domestic Bursar at Balliol and then Trinity, a role I have thoroughly enjoyed, and where my years of experience at Queen’s held me in extremely good stead.