On April 4th, Mandy Dough presented her lecture for the 3rd Annual ECU Anthropology Alumni Lecture Series. Currently, Mandy is the UNC Online Proctoring Coordinator for the entire UNC university system. She graduated from the department of Anthropology with a B.A. degree and later acquired a Masters degree in Literature. Her area of speciality in anthropology was Cultural Anthropology.
During her presentation, Mandy recalled the anthropology graduation ceremony in which the department faculty traditionally hands out mugs to all the graduates. She indicated that when she received her mug that’s when the realization of graduating and what would be her next steps in life hit her. After a semseter off and working with various organizations such as Americore, she decided to obtain a graduate degree in literature. After her master’s degree in literature, Mandy eventually landed the job as UNC Online Proctoring Coordinator.
Basically, proctoring is a preventive measure to monitor a student in taking an exam. Yet for online courses, a system needs to be in place and coordinated so that students are properly monitored throughout the online system whether locally, statewide, nationally and globally. Mandy helps students and faculty to learn and set up their proctored exams. She indicated that there is a “proctoring culture” that develops in each place and it’s important to understand how this proctoring culture differs from one place to another.
In addition, Mandy has other interests such as she would love to work for the U.S. Park Service. When asked questions, Mandy emphasized that it is so important for students to plan for paying for your college years, do not take out student loans, and practice building your resume. This is exactly what many of the students wanted to hear.
At the end of her presentation, I presented Mandy the ECU Anthropology Alumni Lecture Award.