Rate My Professor Kitty Higbee

Kitty Higbee is a key professional staff member at the University of Otago, currently serving as Delivery Manager in the Continuous Delivery section of the Information Technology Services (ITS) Division. She is also recognized as Manager Process Automation in Operations and Manager Automation within the Continuous Improvement team of the Transformation and Improvement Office. Her work centers on leveraging automation technologies to enhance operational efficiency across the university's administrative functions, particularly in student services and admissions processes. Higbee's contributions demonstrate a strong commitment to innovation in digital services delivery, supporting the broader goals of continuous improvement and transformation at one of New Zealand's leading universities.

In a notable achievement, Higbee co-led the Project DOUG & AVA team alongside Louise Ross. The team developed and implemented two robotic process automation (RPA) bots integrated with the university's eVision student management system. DOUG automates the processing of domestic undergraduate offers, while AVA, or Application Validation Automation, specializes in validating international student applications. AVA functions as a digital team member, rapidly performing repetitive validation tasks that would otherwise be time-consuming manually. It checks applications for completeness, automatically notifies applicants if information or documents are missing, and escalates cases for human intervention when necessary. Developed in collaboration with the Student Experience team and technology partner Quanton, these bots have significantly reduced staff workloads, accelerated application processing times—especially for international postgraduate admissions—and improved outcomes for applicants, staff, and academic departments. Following its initial success, AVA is being rolled out to undergraduate enrolments as well. The Project DOUG & AVA team, including members Kylie Davies, Finn Butler, Nadeeka Perera, Moira Suttie, Lachlan Graham, Lucrezia Lewandowska-Pociecha, Emma Whyte, Kaitlin Boddie, Ash Palin, Lizzie Ross, and Alana Santos, received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Exceptional Performance by Professional Staff in 2025. Higbee's leadership in these initiatives highlights her impact on streamlining university operations through advanced automation solutions.