Travis Mager, Business School, Student Life Manager (Global)

Travis Mager
“Joining the Student Life team last year has been such a revelation for me – I’m very lucky to work with such passionate and respectful colleagues”

I studied History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, where upon graduation, I promptly decided I wanted to pursue other professional avenues. I’ve worn a fair few hats over the years: from working in arts fundraising, to a political ad agency back in my native Washington DC. Most recently I was working as a PA, and in marketing postgraduate programmes, in the Faculty of Medicine. I’m now in the Business School, where I’ve worked for the last year as the Student Life Manager.

I manage incoming and outgoing exchanges for postgraduate Business School students, working with over 25 partner Business Schools around the world to provide students with as much global experience as possible. I also work on other memory-making activities in the Business School including developing our overseas modules, and trip leading. Annually, we take over 600 Business School students on overseas trips, which create opportunities for students to increase their cultural fluency in the real world by immersing them in a country’s business and cultural scenes. More broadly, the Student Life team is also responsible for community engagement and experiences in the Business School, including Welcome Day, the Winter Party and Summer Ball.

I was particularly honoured (and tickled) to be nominated by my peers for the Business School Staff Awards in 2023. Additionally, it was an incredible honour to be part of the winning Imperial 600 team for the President’s Medal for Culture and Community. It’s also been a privilege to be a Committee Member of the PA and Administrator Network, where I’ve worked on developing the relationship between the network and Imperial’s management.

I feel extremely lucky to work in an environment where staff can thrive and help empower all our community to make Imperial an even more inclusive and welcoming place. Of our Values, I personally see the power in the interconnected relationship between ‘collaboration’ and ‘respect’. Working with students and partner schools from around the world, collaboration and respect are two of the most important aspects of succeeding in a globally connected environment. There isn’t a ‘one-size’ option for these values: they take patience and diligence to pursue.

After moving to the UK five years ago, it’s taken me a little while to find my feet over here and feel confident again in my pursuits. Joining the Student Life team last year has been such a revelation for me – I’m very lucky to work with such passionate and respectful colleagues. I’m most looking forward to our continued delivery of memory-making experiences as a team. On a personal level, I am very much looking forward to seeing much more of the UK with my husband and our rescue corgi.

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