Academic excellence award for doctoral graduate
university-of-waikato
Wed Feb 28 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Academic excellence award for doctoral graduate
Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 12:51 am
Press Release: University of Waikato
MEDIA RELEASE
28 February 2007
Academic excellence award for Waikato Management School doctoral graduate
A few months back, Dr Riri Ellis celebrated getting her PhD on her home marae in Tauranga. Later this week she’ll receive national recognition for her achievement at the 2007 National Maori Academic Excellence Awards, being held at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia.
“It’s wonderful to have my work acknowledged, ”says Dr Ellis, who completed her doctoral studies at the University of Waikato Management School. “I’m pleased and humbled to be part of a bigger academic endeavour to get more Maori through their PhDs.”
It took Dr Ellis six years to finish her doctoral thesis on marketing in Maori health promotion and practices. “It was hard and challenging work, but Waikato Management School was supportive right the way through. I’m really glad I chose to do my doctorate in management studies. The applied nature of management thinking has proved invaluable in my work for the Ngaiterangi Iwi Runanga.”
Dr Ellis is a project manager for the Ngaiterangi Iwi Runanga, and is involved in strategising for settlement of the Treaty of Waitangi claims. She also works on issues relating to Te Reo and housing for the iwi.
She is one of only three Tauranga Moana Maori doctoral graduates.
Associate Professor Maria Humphries from the Department of Strategy and Human Resource Management at Waikato Management School was Dr Ellis’s academic supervisor. She says their work together has focussed on ways in which management education and research might contribute to serve the aspirations of Maori.
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“I so enjoy my work with Riri!,” she says. “I’ve worked with her ever since she was an undergraduate, and in that time I have seen Riri remain faithful to her values, courageous in her scholarly endeavours, and steadfast in her commitment to contribute to the wellbeing of her whanau and the wider community.
Dr Ellis is among 41 recipients from six universities to be presented with academic excellence awards marking conferment of their doctoral qualifications.
Dr Ellis says it’s particularly significant that this year’s ceremony is being held at Turangawaewae because the late Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu was a patron of the awards and selected the recipient for the Lifetime Achievement award. This role has now passed to King Tuheitia.
The awards, which began in 2002, are sponsored by the Waikato Raupatu Lands Trust, Te Puni Kokiri, the Tertiary Education Commission, Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, and the University of Waikato.
ENDS
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