Top scholars selected to research in the US

Top scholars selected to research in the US

Ten leading New Zealand research scholars have been selected for Fulbright exchanges to the United States of America in 2011. Their Fulbright senior scholar awards will fund research in a diverse range of fields, including many aimed at improving the health, wellbeing and education of New Zealanders and citizens of other countries.

Rachel Vernon, Head of EIT Hawke’s Bay’s School of Nursing, will research models for the assessment of continuing competence of nurses, at the University of California, San Francisco. She will compare existing requirements in the US, New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Canada to identify areas of consensus and best practice, before making recommendations for a new framework for assessing nurses’ competence in patient care throughout their careers.

Dr Gwenda Willis from Victoria University of Wellington, who previously received a short-term Fulbright Travel Award while completing her PhD, will continue her research into treatment of sex offenders by examining American treatment programmes following the New Zealand-developed Good Lives Model, to measure adherence to the model and resulting successes. Developed at Victoria University, the Good Lives Model has been adopted more widely in the United States than in New Zealand, but the effectiveness of those programmes has not yet been surveyed and has implications wherever the model is used.

Two recipients of Fulbright-Cognition Scholar Awards in Education Research for 2011 have been selected – one a practising teacher and the other a university academic. Ngaire Addis from Havelock North High School will research how mathematics achievement data is used by leaders of American high schools to improve teaching and learning. Also, Veronica O’Toole from the University of Canterbury will research the development of an emotional literacy programme for New Zealand educators and students.

Students at Georgetown University’s Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies in Washington, DC will benefit from back-to-back visiting Fulbright Visiting Scholars in New Zealand Studies drawn from the country’s legal academia. Dr Chris Gallavin from the University of Canterbury will teach a course on New Zealand’s constitutional structure and international relations for Georgetown University’s Spring semester from January to May 2011. He will also research different US states’ approaches to judicial oversight of the decision to prosecute within common law. He will be followed in the Fall semester from August to December by Dr David Small from University of Canterbury, who will teach a course surveying major societal changes in New Zealand over the past three decades, whilst researching whether anti-terrorism measures adopted by “low risk” countries like New Zealand after 9/11 were appropriate or indeed too heavy-handed.

The remaining Fulbright New Zealand senior scholars will similarly conduct 3-5 months of research in their field of interest at a US institution of their choice.

2011 Fulbright New Zealand Senior Scholars:



• Ian Barber from the University of Otago will research revitalization movements in Māori, Western Pacific and Anglo-American religions, at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
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• Chellie Spiller from AUT University will research indigenous business models for creating relational well-being in addition to wealth, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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• Yvonne Underhill-Sem from the University of Auckland will research the potential of feminist population geography theories to address maternal mortality, at New York University.
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• Rachel Vernon from EIT Hawke’s Bay will research development of a model for assessing continuing competence of nurses, at the University of California, San Francisco.
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• Gwenda Willis from Victoria University of Wellington will research American sex offender treatment programmes following the New Zealand-developed Good Lives Model, at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.
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2011 Fulbright Visiting Scholar Awards in New Zealand Studies:



• Chris Gallivan from the University of Canterbury will research US approaches to judicial oversight of the decision to prosecute, and teach a course on New Zealand’s constitutional structure and international relations, at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, for their Spring 2011 semester.
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• David Small from Victoria University of Wellington will research the appropriateness of anti-terrorism measures adopted by low risk countries, and teach a course on the transformation of New Zealand society over the past 30 years, at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, for their Fall 2011 semester.
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2011 Fulbright-Cognition Scholar Awards in Education Research:



• Ngaire Addis from Havelock North High School will research the use of mathematics achievement data in evidence-based leadership of American high schools, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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• Veronica O’Toole from the University of Canterbury will research the development of an emotional literacy programme for New Zealand educators and students, at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.
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2011 Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Senior Scholar Award:



• Leonie Pihama from Māori And Indigenous Analysis Ltd (MAIA) will research impacts of historical and intergenerational trauma on the health and wellbeing of indigenous peoples, at the University of Washington in Seattle.
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ENDS

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