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Spotlight on Catherine Dean

18 April 2013

This week the spotlight is on Catherine Dean, Events Manager, UCL Communications and Marketing.

Cath Dean

What is your role and what does it involve?

I am an Events Manager in the UCL Corporate Events team and look after a range of high-profile functions including the recent opening of the new UCL Institute of Making. I also manage the well-known free public Lunch Hour Lectures which run twice a week in term time and go 'on tour' each summer.

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

I've been at UCL for just over a year and my previous jobs have included events and marketing roles at The Schools Network, NESTA and Amnesty International.

What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

I really enjoyed planning the opening of the Octagon Gallery last November as I got to work alongside colleagues from Museums and Collections, Libraries and Estates to organise a great celebration of a brand new space right in the heart of UCL.

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

My priority at the moment is preparing to take the Lunch Hour Lectures 'on tour' to the Museum of London where we'll be holding four talks on Tuesdays in June. Collaborating with the Museum of London is a new partnership and I'm excited to take the talks somewhere new with a really great line-up of UCL speakers (more info: www.ucl.ac.uk/lhlontour).

What is your favourite album, film and novel?

I'm an English Lit grad and so am evangelical about Middlemarch. I love Robert Altman and my favourite film of his is probably The Long Goodbye.

What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

Why did the monkey fall out of the tree? Because it was dead.

Who would be your dream dinner guests?

Caitlin Moran, Larry Elliott, Barack Obama and Dolly Parton.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Not to worry too much about the future and to get on with working hard and playing hard!

What would it surprise people to know about you?

I once had a gun pointed at me while on my gap year in Brazil. Long story, not recommended for any nervous parents of A level students.

What is your favourite place?

The Ocean Sports hotel on the Kenyan coast.