UCL people stories

Amalia Mihailescu

I have been working at UCL since September 2017. After graduating from UCL with an MA in Comparative Literature, I came back to the university as a graduate trainee in the Student and Registry Services department. Within the next two years, I received a permanent position as an Access Officer in the Access and Widening Participation team, helping young people from under-represented groups learn more about higher education and life as a student. In November 2020, I joined the Bartlett as a Student Success Adviser, a role which is co-ordinated by Student Support and Wellbeing.

What working achievements are you most proud of?

I take pride in the success I achieved with my Access and Widening Participation team in transferring our Year 12 residential programme to the online environment last year. Although many activities were cancelled, we managed to run a Summer School for over 13 subjects, helping 240 participants gain insight into what it means to study at UCL. I am also very honoured by the opportunity I had in the past four months to work with and for students who are now in their first-year at UCL and are just settling into university life.

What is your favourite album, film, and novel?

Always a tough choice to name your favourite, but I will try my best. For the unique sound and meaningful lyrics, I choose Hozier’s first album. Favourite movie to date would probably be 'Amélie' (and any name resemblance is purely coincidental). The most recent addition to my list of favourite novels would have to be 'Where the Crawdads Sing' by Delia Owens.

What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

Q: Why did Shakespeare only write in ink?

A: Pencils confused him — 2B or not 2B?

Karthik Sundaram

3 years – Alumni & Supporter care Officer (Alumni office)

What working achievements are you most proud of? 

Introducing a well-being newsletter with collaboration of the English & Philosophy department which has helped students know the help and services available to them. 

Providing a bespoke service to an alum with visual impairment visiting a campus based festival. Working with all those at the festival to ensure he had a unimpaired day and was immensely rewarding catch up a few days after and hearing how good a day he had.

What is your favourite album, film, and novel?

Album: The Verve – 'Forth'

Film: 'Black Hawk Down'

Novel: 'About a Boy' – Nick Hornby

What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

Why did Sherlock Holmes measure the Monopoly board?

To see if the game was a foot.

Luther Mayers

Business Partner, School of Life and Medical Sciences

I have been working at UCL since December 2020 and work as a Student Support and Wellbeing Business Partner for the School of Life and Medical Sciences. I previously worked for Middlesex University as a Progression Adviser supporting a faculty of over 6,000 students.

What working achievements are you most proud of?

I take most pride in the many students I’ve helped to support over the years. Being able to support these students – many, who experienced severe personal and/or medical issues - throughout the entirety of their degree has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me, and is a testament to the value of student support services.

I also feel extremely proud to be managing Student Advisers in my role as a Business Partner at UCL. As a team we are already doing good work to support UCLs respective Faculty’s and will continue to do so as we move into the new academic year and beyond!

What is your favourite album, film, and novel?

Favourite album goes to 'Illmatic' by Nasir Jones. My favourite film is 'Mirror' by Andrei Tarkovsky, and my favourite novel is the all-time classic 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by ‎Gabriel García Márquez.

Ieva Kelpsaite

Student Services Administrator, IOE

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

I've been at UCL for 1 year and a half. Before that I worked at Royal Society of Arts. 

What working achievements are you most proud of? 

My most proud achievement so far is the entrepreneurial initiative that we with the students have created. We have started IOE Dragon's Den competition and  I was amazed how many beautiful creative ideas our students have. More over how much energy and passion they have. It's truly inspiring to see their projects shaping up and hopefully changing the world of education. 

What is your favourite album, film, and novel?

I have a few. But the film that springs to my mind is called 'Bucket list'. It's a story of how two people from different walks of life find themselves in a friendship that lasts beyond death and leave impact on each other. 

What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

I am not very good at jokes, so I will have to leave this section blank. Maybe that is my best joke :)