Last updated, 12th Dec 2023
Shelly Smith - Programme Manager, College of Engineering and Architecture Office
Tell me about yourself?
Hi, I am Shelly Smith and I'm a Programme Manager in the College of Engineering and Architecture College Office. I joined UCD in 2009 and have worked in a number of units (some might say too many!) over the years, including Estates, Schools, College Offices, Global, Careers and Central Registry. These roles afforded me the opportunity to really understand how these various units support each other and keep the big wheel that is UCD turning. Operationally speaking anyway!
What projects are you working on? Tell us a little bit about them?
I am lucky enough to have been involved in various projects over the years by way of being invited onto steering committees or working groups; at one point I even managed an Agile Green Belt Project (the (opens in a new window)Exceptional Grade Change System). By 'lucky' I mean I have the ongoing opportunity to have a voice in helping to shape various things like policy development, communications and relationship management, system specifications and then the actual system testing itself etc. so I do try my best to do the 'homework' or meeting preparation to the best standard possible and feedback accordingly.
This academic year, I was involved in the Extenuating Circumstances System Enhancements project. This project was delivered in September 2023 and was managed by my colleague Debra Heeney. I am also a member of the UCD POST Teaching Segment Group. The aim of this group is to help shape and improve the experience of all those who support the services, operations, and processes that enable teaching across the University. I am also involved in the Automated Process for Pathway Programmes and Extenuating Circumstances Policy Update projects, details of which can be found on (opens in a new window)Registry Projects website.
What is your role on the projects?
- UCD POST Teaching Segment Group: To date, myself and the others in the group have been involved in helping to shape strategy development, provide feedback on POST project submissions to University Management Team Service Group (UMT SG) as well as providing feedback from colleagues within our day-to-day work in operations or academia.
- Extenuating Circumstances System Enhancement Project: I provided project support as well as being a member of the steering committee. This involved helping to keep records of discussions and actions agreed between our office, the steering group and colleagues in the Enterprise Applications Group (EAG) whom we worked very closely with. I also assisted Debra with Steering Committee Workshop preparation to include data collation and analysis. I helped to coordinate system testing between certain members of the committee once enhancements were applied in the test environment and kept in close contact with colleagues in EAG during this time. It was another great learning curve in terms of supporting a university wide project through the POST lens.
What do you enjoy most about working on this project?
I am motivated by helping others, creating efficiencies in day-to-day operations and ultimately creating positive change that makes sense for students and staff both in my own role and across the University; depending on what I am involved with. Being part of the POST Segment Group and continuing to be part of various steering committees and project teams allows me to fulfill these ambitions. I also really enjoy the collaborative aspect of working on projects; meeting, working and learning from colleagues across various teams and units. I have many coffee friends as a result! It can definitely be hard work on the top of the day-to-day but when you see a policy or a system up and running a year or two down the line it is all worth it.