The My Warwick Life feature gives an insight into staff and students’ lives at Warwick, considering both their work and social life on campus.

This week we hear from Tracy Horton, Administrator, Centre for the History of Medicine.

There’s no such thing as a typical day, but, in a nutshell, my job involves…

being responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Centre, including the management of finance, personnel, facilities, and research contracts. I also contribute to the formulation of Centre strategy, the development of funding applications, and organise public engagement events, conferences, seminars and meetings.

I had a really useful meeting recently with…

two of our collaborative public engagement partners - Talking Birds and Nine Arches Press - whom we're working with on three outreach events in 2012-2013. This was a great opportunity to discuss the Centre’s current public engagement projects (‘Hiding in the Pub to Cutting the Cord’, ‘Mental Illness’ and ‘Memory, War and Trauma’) but also to bring together external partners. From this meeting we're in the process of working on a canal walk/run audio project, poetry workshops and a school outreach event.

I'm really enjoying working on…

applications for funding (MA, PhD and Postdoctoral); assisting someone with their application and helping them gain experience and confidence in preparing these materials is time consuming, but so worth it.

Warwick's unique because…

there are a number of opportunities for staff, including the ability to transfer skills and possibly work in other areas. This is a great advantage to enhancing your career opportunities and learning something new. I also forget, until I talk to people outside the university, just how prolific some of the academics we work with are in their field and it’s quite eye opening!

The best thing about working at Warwick is…

the sense of community we have within the Centre and Department and the opportunity to watch progression; from the initial contact for queries through to study, development and graduation; it’s great to be even a small part of that. I recently also received a lovely letter from a member of the public who attended our event ‘Inside the Irish Giant’, thanking us for the production and panels. For someone to take time to write in meant a great deal.

If I could change one thing about working at the University, it would be…

the fact that we don’t have a really good sit down restaurant (something often commented upon by guests). I know Gusto has recently opened but it would be great to have a different style of restaurant you could book external guests into for a VIP meal or even go to ourselves.

I recently went to the Arts Centre to watch…

a WAC ‘Triggered production’. This was a work in progress called ‘Take a Deep Breath’. It was great to see the start of an event (at a lower price) and have input/ be able to talk to the production team afterwards. I would highly recommend these small bite size chunks as it may prompt a fascination with the actual full length version!

I'm an occasional user of the Sports Centre for…

running. I'm an avid runner and try to make time at lunch (where I can) to pop in and use the treadmill - or just a locker if the weather is nice outside (although recently the treadmill has been the preferred option!). I also enjoy playing the occasional game of squash or badminton. Sometimes a little respite away from the office and doing some exercise revitalises me for the next project.