Faces of Reading

The thing I enjoy most about Reading is the School I work in, both the staff and the students. Everyone is supportive and friendly and will stop to have a chat. We do our work but we also do have time to catch-up as well. Because I’m the Programmes Director, I also get involved with the Reading University Construction Society (RUCS), as well as the University's Ghana Student Society.

I’ve been given the opportunity to grow in what I do, and I think Reading gives everyone that opportunity – you just have to be yourself, and take it. Regardless of where you come from, grasp the opportunity and go with it.

For example, there are days when I work at home so I can pick up my five-year-old son from school. My electric car cuts down on carbon emissions but unfortunately not on travel time; I still have at least an hour-long commute each way, so being able to work from home on certain days really helps to fit everything in.

There’s a lot of support for doing things differently at the University, and from my mentor and manager. In addition to flexible working, I also benefit from interdisciplinary research interactions through my work with the Centre for Past Climate Change, and I’m co-chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee in the School of Mathematical, Physical, and Computational Science.

Read more about flexible working in the School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences.

I teach a module on ancient education, which is my research speciality. Reading students are fun to teach and that’s something I really enjoy.

I also run the ancient schoolroom. Over a period of two weeks, we have up to 60 children a day coming in, and I’m responsible for providing all kinds of different activities, all related to ancient education.

I’ve written several books on how Greek speakers learned Latin and how Latin speakers learned Greek. I discovered some ancient Latin textbooks, edited them, and published Learning Latin The Ancient Way a year ago and now the whole world has got them.

I came to Reading in 2013. I had been the only linguist in a classics department for a really long time, but here there are three of us. That’s much better for my research.

I live in Oxford and work part time. It works well, as I don’t have to commute in five days a week.

I’m involved in the LGBTQIA+ group at Reading, but it’s not a place where, as a lesbian, you feel isolated. British universities are good places to be a lesbian; everybody is very welcoming. And it’s nice to have colleagues as LGBTQIA+ allies.

I was encouraged by my first manager to use my initiative, to have the courage to develop new processes, to learn about different roles within the wider team and to volunteer for new opportunities – and this is a philosophy I have carried throughout my career. Early on I was also encouraged by a colleague to apply for a secondment, something I would not have independently considered. When I secured my first secondment, I was able to expand my knowledge, my experience and my network further.

Over the past 13 years I have held five different roles, ranging from school-based administration to centralised quality assurance and exams, and now as Head of Timetabling and Booking. I have always enjoyed the huge variety of the roles I have held. No one day is the same and I work with a range of colleagues from both academic and professional services.