Top professor joins Te Wānanga o Aotearoa board

Jacinta Ruru

Professor Jacinta Ruru - Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Maniapoto - has joined Te Mana Whakahaere, the board of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Board chair Vanessa Eparaima made the announcement last week and says Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is fortunate to have someone with Prof. Ruru’s experience, knowledge and mana to help steer Te Wānanga o Aotearoa into the future.

Prof. Ruru is Aotearoa’s first Māori law professor, one of our leading Māori legal scholars and last year became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and the Law.

She has lectured at Otago University for more than 20 years and her research interests are in areas such as tikanga Māori and Indigenous laws, Māori land law, Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi and United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the decolonisation of New Zealand’s research sector and legal education.

Prof. Ruru says she looks forward to working with Te Mana Whakahaere and contributing to the Te Wānanga o Aotearoa vision of whānau transformation through education.

“Te Wānanga o Aotearoa has a long history of working for our people and I’m excited to be able to play a role in its ongoing success.”

Story by: Tracey Cooper
News
Leadership and governance news
Share Share
Feedback

Pūrongo whakahirahira

Featured stories

Te Reo Suite

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa launches new reo Māori programmes to help te reo thrive for generations to come

For over four decades, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa has created pathways for generations of tauira to learn, speak, teach and live te reo Māori. That legacy has supported the return of te reo Māori to everyday life, from whānau learning their first kupu, to tauira carrying reo onto marae, and into workplaces, classrooms and homes.

Patricia Tangira Falwasser

Turning a passion for rongoā into community healing

Rongoā Māori has always been part of Patricia Tangira-Falwasser's life, but it was her studies at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa that deepened her knowledge and inspired her to start a business that now serves her wider community.

Ken Henry

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa kaimahi claims gold at Waka Ama World Championship

Ken Henry (Te Whakatōhea, Waikato-Tainui) is a Tauira Support Advisor at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Whakatāne campus who took home gold at the Waka Ama World Championships in Singapore in August.

Chanel Coromandel 2

A passion for taonga Māori takes Chanel to Oxford

What started as a desire to strengthen her reo Māori has taken Chanel Coromandel (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Whanaunga) on an unexpected path, leading to an opportunity to contribute to the care and preservation of taonga Māori at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England.

Haylee Roussel

Reconnecting to te ao Māori through raranga

Haylee Roussel (Ngāti Rārua, Rangitāne, Ngāti Maniapoto) was searching for a way to reconnect with te ao Māori when she enrolled in the Certificate in Māori and Indigenous Art, Raranga, at the Waiwhero campus of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Tayla-Marie

A journey shaped by whānau and a love of tamariki

Members of Tayla-Marie Takawe’s (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Maniapoto) whānau were among the first tauira to graduate from the Bachelor of Education (Primary Teaching) at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Lily Warring

Finding a deeper sense of self through te ao Māori

Moving to Aotearoa from rural Australia as a teenager, Lily Warring found herself wanting to learn more about the culture and language of the place she now called home.

Josh Verstraten

Creating the spark for business success

With plenty of experience as an electrician, Josh Verstraten was ready to branch out from employee to business owner, but he knew running a successful business would require a new set of skills.

Augustine Kopa

From financial stress to financial freedom for Auckland whānau

For Augustine Kopa, studying the Certificate in Money Management at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa was about creating a better future for her whānau.

Melody Francis and Mary Jane Francis

Two generations, one reo Māori journey

When Melody Francis (Ngāti Kahungunu) saw the positive impact that studying te reo Māori had on her mum, she decided to jump on the waka and begin the journey alongside her.

Pat, Donna, and Lavinia Tobin

Tikanga study boosts whānau presence on marae

Patrick and Donna Tobin (Ngāti Kahu) are a brother-and-sister duo studying tikanga alongside their wider whānau at Te Paatu Marae in Kaitaia, all working towards the betterment of their whānau, iwi, and marae.

Franda Zondagh

A teacher’s path to understanding tikanga

Originally from South Africa, Franda Zondagh has called Aotearoa home since 2003, but it was through studying He Papa Tikanga with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa that she began to feel a deeper connection to the place she lives and people she serves in her mahi.

1 / 12