Spotlight on Sally Mackenzie

This week the spotlight is on Sally Mackenzie, Head of Student Engagement, Office of the Vice-Provost (Education and Student Affairs).

What is your role and what does it involve?

I'm based in the Office of the Vice-Provost (Education and Student Affairs) and lead the Student Engagement Team. We are responsible for student engagement activities and ensuring that students feel that their opinions are valued and acted upon.

Engagement activities range from providing opportunities for feedback such as student surveys, focus groups and student representation on committees, to supporting initiatives that help students to become more closely involved as partners in university projects, for example, UCL ChangeMakers.

The student engagement activities also reach beyond current UCL students: we're interested in engaging students at our partner schools too. For example, feedback from students who attend the UCL Academy on their expectations of a university education can be so valuable when it comes to understanding more about transitioning to university.

How long have you been at UCL and what was your previous role?

I've only been in this role since December 2015 so I'm still new and trying get to grips with the huge number of projects and initiatives going on across the university. Prior to this, I worked at the UCL Institute of Education for almost three years in the Marketing Team as Campaign Manager, with a focus on running campaigns to recruit students to undergraduate and teacher training programmes.

I've also worked in several other universities in either alumni engagement or student communications roles, including King's College London, University of the Arts London and Macquarie University in Sydney.

There are many of the same challenges across every university, but I love working in an organisation that gives you the chance to work with so many different people and be based in a busy and vibrant environment.

What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

I've been really lucky to work with incredibly creative and dedicated teams of people in various universities roles, and there have been lots of highlights.

One that comes to mind was at Macquarie University in Sydney where I led a communications campaign to keep students and the local community up to date with a $2 million expansion of the university fitness centre.

Seeing a huge train platform billboard advert that I had commissioned for the fitness centre on my daily commute was a pretty good way to start the day! The campaign resulted in an increase in community membership meaning that we could invest the revenue in sports clubs, facilities and sending students to the Australian University Games.

More recently, a lot of my student recruitment work has relied on understanding what motivates students in their decision-making and then translating this into various communications such as a short film or new publication.

Engaging students in focus groups, face-to-face meetings, or getting to know the student ambassadors is a really valuable way to gain this kind of insight. The students never fail to surprise me with new ideas, perspectives or simply their enthusiasm for their subject. For me, it's this aspect of the job that makes working in a university so interesting.

Tell us about a project you are working on now which is top of you to-do list?

A big focus for the team at the moment is the National Student Survey (NSS) 2016, which launched this week and will run until 30 April. The survey is managed by an external company and all final year undergraduate students across the UK are invited to take part.

It's an important tool for us to gather information and insights into what is working well and what isn't, as well as having a reputational impact.

This year, we've created a new look for the promotional materials so it's great to see these around the campus. However, it's the staff based in departments who can really make the difference when it comes to students responding to the survey.

We know that students are far more likely to complete the survey if someone they know, such as their tutor, asks them, so we really rely on staff who have regular contact with students to help spread the word.

What is your favourite album, film and novel?

This is tough question! There are far too many possible answers but..

Album - The first time I heard the Homogenic album by Bjork it was so different to everything else I'd ever heard and I still love it.

Film - Forest Gump is such a good story

Novel - anything adventurous and based in another country, from Shantaram, set in India, to non-fiction books such as Africa by Richard Dowden.

What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

A man walks into a bar, and orders a beer. As he sits there, the jar of nuts on the bar tells him what a nice shirt he is wearing.

Disturbed by this, he goes to the cigarette vending machine to buy a pack of cigarettes. As he approaches the machine, it starts screaming and shouting at him. He runs to the bar and explains this to the barman.

The barman apologizes and says, "The peanuts are complimentary, but the cigarette machine is out of order."

Who would be your dream dinner guests?

I love cooking (and eating), travelling and laughing, so on that basis, I think I could have a fun evening with Michael Palin, chef Tom Kerridge and Caitlin Moran. But if they stood me up, I would be pretty happy eating a nice meal with my family and friends.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Like many others, I'm sure, I would tell myself to worry less and not to care too much about what others think. (I would probably also give myself some style advice).

What would it surprise people to know about you?

I walked up the final part of Machu Picchu barefoot. I wish I could tell you this was an heroic fundraising effort, but, in truth, my walking trainers were stolen on the final night of the trek, hours before we were due to climb up the summit and my only other choice was flip flops - not advisable on slippery stone steps in the dark.

What is your favourite place?

Colombia! It's such an incredible country, with warm and friendly people and a diverse environment. The highlight of my South America trip was horse riding in the beautiful Valle de Cocora, just south of Medellin.

A bit closer to home, I love walking over Waterloo Bridge.