Always fair, kind, and deeply insightful.
Aggie O'Leary serves as Administrator in the Divisional Services & Administration of the Commerce Division at the University of Otago. She holds the position of Client Services Administrator and DBA Programme Administrator for the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programme, which was launched in 2017 and designed for mature working professionals in fields such as business. Her administrative efforts have been key to the programme's operational success, including supporting the first cohort of five students to achieve a 100 per cent completion rate. The Otago DBA programme has been ranked the number one DBA in the world. O'Leary provides direct support to postgraduate students, including those in the Department of Management, where she has been thanked for continuous administrative assistance in multiple doctoral theses submitted in 2024, such as those by A.D. Alis, C.D. Jayasinghe, and others pursuing Doctor of Business Administration degrees.
In recognition of her contributions, Aggie O'Leary was part of the University of Otago Business School annual staff awards in 2020, listed alongside Wiebke Finkler. She co-authored the conference paper 'Professional Support for Professional Students - Aligning administrative support with the changing needs of professional doctoral students,' presented at the Quality in Postgraduate Research (QPR) conference in 2026 with Sarah Carr and Jane Carroll, both from the University of Otago. The paper examines the evolving demographics of doctoral students from traditional full-time PhD candidates to mature professionals balancing work and study in education, medicine, and business. It critiques inflexible, standardized administrative processes that cause stress due to scheduling and work-life balance issues, advocating for flexible, school-based models, open communication, and regular reviews to ensure equity, transparency, and quality assurance while accommodating professional students' unique needs. Drawing from nearly a decade of experience, the work addresses concerns over research training standards, drop-out rates, and perceptions of professional doctorates as inferior. O'Leary's contact direct dial is +64 3 556 6950.