19 November, 2019

GWNZ Fellow Dr Nina Earles at the November branch meeting

Nina is studying for a Masters of Public Health at Yale University with an emphasis on health policy.

Nina shared insights about the US health system, and inspired us with her vision to reduce the inequities in the New Zealand health system so that the best outcomes are available to everyone within the limited health budget. She impressed us with her ability to work as a GP while parenting 3 young children, and with her determination to continue her studies to gain higher qualifications.
Lorelle George (GWNS President) and Nina are with our new GWNZ banner.

10 October, 2019

PhD in French for North Shore member Helen Sturm

Helen’s thesis comprised an analysis and translation of 1840 letters to Marist Superior General, Fr Jean-Claude Colin in France, from Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier and the French Marist missionaries working with him in New Zealand.

For her thesis Culture, politics, religion and language in the letters of French Roman Catholic missionaries in 1840 New Zealand Helen used the views of Māori and the writings of Jacques Derrida and Pierre Bourdieu to inform her linguistic and historical examination of cross-cultural encounters in the new colony.
One of her examiners’ reports on the thesis notes that it “presents an original cross-disciplinary contribution to knowledge in the fields of colonial New Zealand history and translation studies. […] The candidate’s documentary translation of [the Marists’ letters] illuminates our current understanding of New Zealand history around the time of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by offering different, non-Anglophone perspectives on the events and personalities involved. […]
The letters not only provide fascinating insights into the relationships between the Marists in New Zealand and the wider Pacific and Colin in Lyons but also, more importantly for early New Zealand colonial history, they describe Māori culture and spirituality (from the Marist perspective, of course), Māori attitudes to colonisation, interactions between themselves and Māori and the interactions and tensions between themselves and the Anglo-Protestant missionaries, settlers and authorities. The letters offer a new take on cultural and political life in early colonial New Zealand.”

Congratulations on your achievement Helen!

10 October, 2019

The Summer Learning Journey digital literacy programme

Students who engage in sustained blogging over summer, in response to challenging learning tasks, make significant gains in Reading and Writing achievement.

The Summer Learning Journey (Toki Pounamu) is designed to reduce the ‘summer learning slide’ or loss of learning which occurs during the summer holidays. Developed by Dr Rachel Williamson from Auckland University, the innovative programme involves the students choosing an activity from a number of modules and blogging their responses – which receive feedback from a team of expert commenters: teachers, student teachers and former students of the programme.
The programme is for Years 4-8 children in lower decile schools. It started in three Auckland schools in 2014 and is now active in 100 schools throughout New Zealand.
Rachel’s presentation to the North Shore branch July meeting was well received by members who were impressed to see how social media can be used to support an effective literacy programme. Research has shown that students who take part in the Summer Learning Journey return to school after the summer break ready to learn, and achieve better results in reading and writing than students who do not participate.
Visit the Toki Pounamu website for more information and a link to the Summer Learning Journey website.

25 July, 2019

GWNS Charitable Trust undergraduate study awards

First-year students from North Shore schools awarded study grants for tertiary study.

Five high-achieving first year students who had attended North Shore high schools were awarded $1,500 grants for undergraduate study at AUT North campus and Massey University Albany.
Recipients of these awards were:
TamilaTodd, Glenfield College; Jade Mademblik, Northcote College; Sherrice Imbo, Carmel College: Megan McIsaac, Rangitoto College and Holly Spencer, Orewa College.

The awards were presented at a High Tea held at the Masonic Centre in Albany.

24 July, 2019

Scholarships presented to North Shore women for post-graduate study

GWNS has awarded four post-graduate scholarships, five study grants and a travel grant to North Shore women scholars.
The 2019 awards were presented at a High Tea held at the Masonic Centre in Albany.

Adi Papirany, Emily Palmer and Alice Stevenson with Carolyn Harvey, GWNS President

In making the presentation the Graduate Women North Shore branch President, Carolyn Harvey, noted that over the twenty years that these awards have been offered, the range of study areas women were undertaking had widened greatly. Over the two decades 142 scholarships and awards have been made with a total value of $500,000
This year’s recipients of post graduate awards were:
Tanisha Pereira from Henderson. Tanisha holds a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours and is undertaking Doctoral studies into technologies that can be implemented in situ to analyse defects in parts while a machine is in operation. Tanisha was awarded $8,000
Adi Papirany from Torbay holds a Bachelor of Arts Hons and is enrolled in the Doctor of Clinical Psychology. Her research is exploring cyberbullying – an issue affecting many people and particularly adolescents. Adi was awarded $5,000
Alice Stevenson lives in Bayview and holds a Bachelor of Science, and a Bachelor of Science Hons in psychology. She is now undertaking Doctoral studies in Clinical Psychology. Alice is investigating systemic factors such as power imbalance which lead to marginalisation and disempowerment of people. Alice’s award was $2,500
Emily Palmer from Unsworth Heights has a Bachelor of Natural Sciences, and a Master of Science in Conservation Biology. For her Doctoral studies, Emily is researching areas of marine mammalogy, ecology and conservation and was awarded a $2,000 travel grant to attend the Second World Marine Mammal Science Conference which is to take place in Barcelona in December this year.

08 June, 2019

Queen’s Birthday Honour: Beverley Turner MNZM

Beverley Turner, member of Graduate Women North Shore, has been awarded MNZM in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to women, particularly Pacific women.

The Branch congratulated Beverley at their morning meeting on June 6th. This honour is so richly deserved as Beverley has been deeply involved in Graduate Women affairs serving on the committee, and as President being the person who did the initial negotiating with Massey University, Albany, for the setting up of gowning, which the branch did for 25 years, for her
active role in PAC over many years and for numerous other activities of the branch.

Beverley has attended many national and international conferences and will be attending GWI conference in Geneva in July. Beverley was a Vice President of NZFUW for the term 1998-2000 and the NZFUW Convenor of International Relations (CIR) from 1996-2000.

In the early 2000’s, Beverley catalysed the establishment of the Pacific Graduate Women’s Network because she was concerned that graduate women in the Pacific Islands were missing out on possible networking, mentoring, and information sharing opportunities to advance their education and employment, as well as to strengthen human rights, especially the rights of women and girls to access affordable and relevant education in the region. For the past 18 years (2000 until present), Beverley has been the Convener of this network. She has maintained on-going liaison, connected women across the region, and shared information with graduate women and graduate groups in Niue, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Northern Marianas, Palau, and Tuvalu. Her involvement with Pacific Women’s Watch was fostered by her concern for the education and welfare of women. Locally this has also been visible with her involvement and support for the Shakti Asian Women’s Centre.

In 1994 Beverley was the NZFUW representative on NZ’s Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Co-ordinating Committee established in preparation for the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995. Following the Beijing Conference, Beverley played a significant role in feedback and follow up to New Zealanders and the government. Through a long involvement with UNIFEM, Beverley, among other achievements, introduced the White Ribbon campaign to NZ. She has also been centrally involved in NGO Human Rights Network from 2000 to the present. Congratulations Beverley!

04 June, 2019

GWNS celebrates Dorothy Meyer’s 90th birthday.

Graduate Women North Shore recently celebrated Dorothy Meyer’s birthday with a special morning tea at the monthly meeting.

Dorothy (in the red jacket) continues to be fully involved in Graduate Women affairs as she has been for over 50 years. She had prepared a display board of her participation in GWI Conferences over many years, an amazing record of commitment to Graduate Women. The branch celebrated with a cake to honour Dorothy’s inspirational work on behalf of women. Dorothy will be attending the GWI conference in Geneva in July, together with Beverley Turner.

14 March, 2019

Sponsoring the education of girls living in the Astha Home, Nepal

Lynne Hedley gave a presentation to a North Shore branch meeting about the Astha Home in Kathmandu. Displaced girls from Humla live in a supportive environment and their education is funded by charities.

The branch made a donation to support the girls’ education.

Humla is a remote district in Nepal where the impact of poverty and conflict is particularly severe on girls, who can be in danger of being trafficked for the sex trade.

The Astha Home provides a supportive environment for a small group of displaced girls from Humla, and funds their education through school and beyond. Some of the girls have now graduated from school and are continuing their education by training as nurses or teachers. One is now a registered nurse with an 87% pass rate across all subjects and all years.