Ako Aotearoa announces new Chair of the Tertiary Teaching Awards Committee
Emeritus Professor Noeline Alcorn has been appointed as the new chair of the panel that selects New Zealand’s top
tertiary teachers in the annual national Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards.
The Ako Aotearoa board received endorsement for the appointment from the Minister of Education, Hon Anne Tolley, last
week. Bryan Gould, Chair of the Ako Aotearoa Board says, “We are delighted that the Minister has endorsed our
recommendation of Professor Alcorn for this role. Noeline has an outstanding reputation both as an educational leader
and a researcher and has an extraordinary breadth of experience across different parts of New Zealand’s education
system.” Professor Alcorn replaces Emeritus Professor Graeme Fraser who retired from the role last year having been
chair since the first round of awardees were selected in 2002.
Professor Alcorn was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order in 2005 in recognition of her services to tertiary
education. Originally a secondary school teacher, Professor Alcorn was director of the Centre for Continuing Education
at the University of Auckland before becoming principal and dean of the School of Education at the University of
Waikato. During a varied career, she has been a member of the New Zealand Polytechnics Programmes Committee and Chair of
the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. In 2006, Professor Alcorn chaired the Education Panel for the PBRF
Quality Evaluation.
Professor Alcorn says: “Outstanding teachers are the lifeblood of our tertiary system, enthusing, inspiring and
challenging students to learn, question, think and create. I see the Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards given to our
top teachers as crucially important in drawing attention to the worth and importance of tertiary teaching and am
honoured to follow Professor Graeme Fraser in the role of Chair of the Committee”.
ENDS