MEDIA RELEASE
Scholarship Winner Completes Studies
For immediate release on 22 April 2004
Today past mayor of Hamilton, Margaret Evans graduates with a Master of Social Sciences (Public Policy) degree from the
University of Waikato after receiving first class honours for her thesis Leadership and the Role of the Mayor in New
Zealand.
Ms Evans is a past recipient of Local Government New Zealand’s Dame Catherine Tizard Scholarship. This scholarship was
established to support women involved in local government politics and enable them to undertake tertiary research with a
strategic or governance focus of value to the local government sector.
“We congratulate Margaret on the completion of her thesis, which raises some interesting points around local governance
and particularly the roles of mayors in New Zealand,” says Eugene Bowen, Chief Executive, Local Government New Zealand.
Margaret Evans has 25 years experience in local government politics. In 1974 she was elected to council and became the
country’s youngest councillor. Later in her career she became Hamilton’s first woman mayor.
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