Catherine Mills

Since graduating from Leicester in American Studies (including a year abroad at the University of Texas, Austin) I have gone on to complete a MA in American Studies with Canadian Literature and a PhD in American and Canadian Literature at the University of Nottingham.

I completed my doctorate in May 2007 and started working for the University of Cambridge as the School of Humanities and Social Sciences Transferable Skills Officer.  I was responsible for designing and delivering a skills development programme for the School’s approximately 1500 postgraduate research students.

I left Cambridge in the summer of 2009 and I currently work for the University of Birmingham managing the University Graduate School (http://www.graduateschool.bham.ac.uk/).  This is a varied and challenging role.  I am responsible for managing two teams: the Training & Development team and the Research Student Administration team.  The University Graduate School (UGS) supports a postgraduate researcher (PGR) population of around 2700.  The UGS’ remit includes PGR training and development, supporting PGR recruitment, overseeing quality and central administrative processes (e.g. thesis examination) for all UoB PGRs, as well as leading on a variety of strategic developments linked to PGRs.

My degree at Leicester sparked my interest in American Literature and gave me the confidence to pursue postgraduate study.  Without the flexible multi-disciplinary approach of the University of Leicester’s American Studies degree I would never have had the opportunity to study literature at University because I did not study English at A-Level.  The chance to live and study in the United States for a year was also invaluable and inspired me to continue my study of American culture, literature and history.  The rest as they say is history!