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Brief Encounter - Susan Brock

Susan BrockSusan Brock is Administrator for the CAPITAL Centre, a HEFCE-funded centre for excellence in teaching and learning. CAPITAL stands for Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning and the centre is a partnership between the University and the Royal Shakespeare Company to bring the expertise of the world’s largest classical theatre company to the higher education community. In her first year with CAPITAL and at the University, Susan’s role has been developing the working relationship between the partners; organising study days, workshops and seminars for Warwick staff and students; and producing the UK premiere of Lope de Vega’s Capulets and Montagues for the RSC Complete Works Festival Fringe. She’s looking forward to moving into CAPITAL's new space at Millburn House.

Favourite phrase:
Yes, I don’t see why we can’t do that.

Least favourite phrase:
You’re welcome to use this office for three months but then …

Life before Warwick:
I've been a librarian for most of my working life, at the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham and then at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, but I believe I’ve never said 'shh' to anyone.

Smartest career move:
Becoming Executive Secretary of the International Shakespeare Association. I enlarged my contacts worldwide and got my first taste of administration – and liked it!

Lifelong ambition:
Still working on that one! Too many choices, not enough time.

People are always surprised to learn this about me, but …
My BA and PhD are in Latin.

What has life’s experience taught you so far?
You can always make a difference.

Major achievement to date:
The publication of Playhouse Wills 1558-1642: An Edition of Wills by Shakespeare and his Contemporaries in the London Theatre with Ernst Honigmann.

Any hidden talents:
More than 20 years experience teaching people of all ages to read Elizabethan handwriting.

Your all-time favourite piece of music:
Tommy Tucker's High Heel Sneakers.

If you could change one thing in the University overnight, what would it be?
SAP reports.

Which person inspires you most and why?
Stanley Wells, Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and editor of the Oxford Shakespeare. Since I was a graduate student we have worked together on a variety of projects and he taught me what it is to be a scholar.