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Staff spotlight: Liz Kaye

Meet Liz Kaye, former Quality and Placements Manager.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

I live in Lewes with my husband and our 13-year-old daughter. We are members of LOS Musical Theatre and the Cliffe Bonfire Society, both of which give me excuses to dress up, sing and perform. I serve my community and my church in the voluntary post of foundation governor at our local primary school.

My degree was in music and I studied at the University of Sussex. I wasn’t aware of careers in arts or academic administration until I arrived at Sussex, but I soon found myself doing voluntary work for societies and the student union as well as temporary work during the holidays, which I enjoyed and built up my portfolio of skills. The early part of my career was in arts administration, including around five years working for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and then a similar amount of time for the Royal Academy of Music, which also served as my introduction to academic administration. I then spent a couple of years working for a lawyer who specialised in pop music and about five years as a PA in the events industry. During the latter period I realised that I really wanted to work in the public sector and find a career where I could make a difference to others, not just help people to make money.

What was it that originally brought you to BSMS?

In late 2006 I saw an advertisement for a post at BSMS which seemed a perfect fit for my skills. Thankfully the interview panel (Peter Dennis, Prof Kevin Davies and Prof Mel Newport) felt so too. When I started, as the administrator for Phase 2, the first BSMS cohort was in Year 4, so I’ve been responsible for supporting, in some way or other, every undergraduate student at BSMS up until 2022-23. About five years later I moved into a similar role in Phase 1 and around five years after that I became the first BSMS Quality and Placements Manager, which means I’ve been involved in pretty much every element of the undergraduate course at some point. My whole career seems to work in roughly five-year cycles as in the Autumn of 2022, after more than 15 years at BSMS, I was offered a Senior Education Manager role within the Social Science schools at Sussex, which seemed a perfect next step. The most difficult thing about gaining this promotion was leaving the BSMS “family” of fabulous colleagues (administrative and clinical) and inspiring (and challenging, mainly in a good way) students.

What's your favourite memory from your time at BSMS?

I always love graduation ceremonies and graduation balls and many of my favourite memories are around these occasions. They are obviously a time for the students to celebrate their achievements, but also for staff members to reflect and put their own work into context. Since the first BSMS graduation ceremony in 2008, I’ve only missed one (and that day I did manage to bring my, then 5-day-old, daughter to the afternoon celebration), and I’ve been to almost every graduation ball too. It hit home to me this year (2023) that for several recent cohorts I was almost the first person to welcome them into the school on day 1 of induction week (when I was responsible for Phase 1) as well as being there to celebrate their graduation. The graduating cohort of 2020 described me as “the ever-watchful matriarch” and, whether that was in jest or not, it makes me happy and reminds me of one of my favourite films that always makes me cry, the 1969 remake of “Goodbye, Mr Chips” when Chips, played by Peter O’Toole, says at the end (and about to die) “A pity I never had any children? But you’re wrong. I have. Thousands of them …. And all boys”. For “boys” read “medical students”, though I am also lucky enough, after a lot of IVF, to have a child of my own too.

What is your biggest professional achievement?

I am proud of many achievements during the whole of my time at BSMS. My first major challenge was planning and delivering the second ever Year 3 OSCE, which comprised 24 active stations and 3 rest stations for the original “bulge” cohort of around 150 students on a Thursday and Friday in July 2007, and getting all the marking processed in time for the exam board on the following Monday. Other memories which make me particularly happy are interactions with individual students which helped make a difference to them, including a number where I felt the conversation was pivotal. However, in overall career terms, the period of the pandemic was a time when I feel I grew the most and really became a manager rather than an administrator. I had fairly recently taken on responsibility for driving Project 200 (BSMS UG curriculum change and increase of student numbers) and the Quality and Placements role was developing significantly with a new GMC QA cycle and an imminent Periodic Review with our partner universities in sight, along with an expansion of my team and a lot of pressure to ensure enough primary and secondary care placements for students at a time of crisis in the NHS. I knew I was working flat out and juggling lots of stuff – and all online – but it is only now, looking back, that I am aware how much we (me, my team and our close academic and clinical colleagues) really did achieve at such a difficult time.

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Who has inspired you most in life?

This is a really difficult question. Everyone is flawed to some extent, but many people inspire and encourage me by their example. I currently know a number of primary and secondary school teachers and head teachers who are totally committed to ensuring the best outcomes for their pupils, despite the increasingly challenging social and financial climate, all working way beyond expectations to do the best they can for the children in their care. Similarly, whilst at BSMS I saw first-hand the dedication of so many clinicians, juggling their responsibility to their patients with delivering teaching and support to medical and other students, whilst also having other responsibilities for BSMS or NHS employer. As a Christian, I’m also inspired by the example of many church leaders, who balance their family lives with the needs of so many people, both within and in extension of their immediate congregations, whilst maintaining spiritual leadership and teaching by the way they live their lives. A number of friends inspire me with their crusading work to combat climate change and to live a more sustainable, and a more healthy and active life. My daughter continually inspires me, especially currently her dedication to practising the piano and working on dance pieces. Some of these things I can try to emulate now - and those I can’t do now I hope to do when I retire.

Describe BSMS in three words.

Family, Caring, Fair

What’s the best piece of advice you would give your younger self?

It’s okay to be yourself and follow your own dreams, not what others think you should or could do. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Sometimes things fall into place, but if they don’t then it’s up to you to make the right things happen. Focus on what makes you happy and hopefully that will make others happy too – and smile a lot, which will almost always ensure others smile back. Look for work that interests, inspires and satisfies you, find a great mentor or role model, go the extra mile (if and when you can), but remember that work is only part of life and not the most important part. It’s generally not possible to have it all despite what you may have been told at school, you need to take responsibility to make good choices for yourself.