Science rapping alumnus an idol to NZ kids
Volume 18, Number 3, August 2012
Science rapping alumnus an idol to NZ kids
Recent American Fulbright alumnus Tom McFadden undertook an extensive tour of New Zealand primary, intermediate and secondary schools in May and June to promote the Science Idol competition, an initiative he developed as part of the 2012 New Zealand International Science Festival to engage young people in science through the creation of songs and music videos on scientific topics.
Tom came to New
Zealand as a 2011 Fulbright US Graduate Student to study
science communication at the University of Otago, where he
is still completing his two year Master’s degree. He has a
particular interest in popularising science with students in
the digital age, which builds on his own underground YouTube
fame as a “science rapper” under the pseudonym The
Rhymebosome. | read the full story online
Grantee
Voice: Jessica Hinojosa – Living big dreams in New
Zealand
Jessica Hinojosa
Jessica Hinojosa from
Dallas, Texas is mid-way through her Fulbright exchange year
in New Zealand, on which she is conducting a
paleoclimatalogical analysis into the Roaring Forties winds,
at the University of Otago. Jessica recently transferred
from a Master’s to PhD programme, extending her planned
stay in New Zealand to several years.
In recent years I’ve seen a certain criticism of my generation pop up again and again: we feel entitled to a career in which we are totally happy and satisfied, which is idealistic and perhaps unrealistic. I had a conversation with older members of my family where they remarked that for them, putting in hours at work was just something you did to provide for your family, and fun was reserved for time at home and vacations. I understand that many jobs that keep the world running are not glamorous – we need janitors and jail wardens as much as we need graphic designers and venture capitalists, if not more. But I won’t fault my generation for being dreamers. In fact, it’s that spirit of achievement that I credit for bringing me to where I am today, both in terms of my career path and my Fulbright award. | read the full story online
Alumni
Voice: Douglas Pratt – The persistence and problem of
religion
Douglas Pratt
Fulbright alumnus Douglas
Pratt from the University of Waikato was a 2010 Fulbright
Visiting Scholar in New Zealand Studies at Georgetown
University’s Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies
in Washington, DC, where he researched religious pluralism
and extremism, Christian-Muslim relations and interfaith
dialogue, and taught a course on religious plurality and the
problem of extremism. These themes were the focus of
Douglas’s inaugural professorial lecture at the University
of Waikato in May, and in October he will give Fulbright
lectures on the same topic in Auckland, Christchurch and
Dunedin.
Your recent inaugural professorial lecture and upcoming Fulbright lectures are on the topic ‘The Persistence and Problem of Religion’. Is there any suggestion today of major religion(s) declining or dying out in New Zealand or elsewhere in the world?
No, quite the contrary. Certainly it is true that the census results in many countries, including New Zealand and Australia, show both an increase in individuals returning a ‘non-religious’ category, suggesting an overall decline in religious memberships. And for the most part there continues to be a fairly consistent decline in individuals identifying with the historically main religion of Christianity, at least in respect to many of its variant denominations. But for the most part these changes are recorded as percentages of the total population, not necessarily in terms of absolute numbers. Census data do not tell the whole story; even an adequate one. Such data may indicate an interesting sociological trend, but it tells us nothing about the vitality and so the persistence of either the religion or any of its variant expressions. | read the full story online
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Also in this
issue:
Editorial
Grantees honoured at awards
ceremony
Additional awards for US graduate
students
Māori Scholars-in-Residence bound for
US
Alumni Association update
A bequest is an
investment in your country’s future
Awarded
Arrivals
and Departures
Awards
Grantee and Alumni
News
Fulbright grantee Ghazaleh Golbakhsh (2011 NZ
Graduate Student) had her short film Iran in Transit
selected by public vote to screen in the 2012 Tel Aviv
International Student Film Festival in June. Ghazaleh’s
film was picked as winner of the “alternative
competition”, judged by online voters on the festival’s
website in advance of the event. As her prize Ghazaleh was
flown to attend the film’s premiere screening at the
festival in Tel Aviv from her current base in Los Angeles,
where she is completing a Master of Fine Arts degree in film
production at the University of Southern California. The
biennial Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival is one
of the largest and most important student film festivals in
the world.
above: Glenda Anthony;
below: Alice Te Punga Somerville
Several
Fulbright alumni were recognised in the Queen’s Birthday
and Diamond Jubilee Honours List in June. Peter Bergquist
(1961 NZ Graduate Student) was appointed as an Officer of
the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to science.
David Ivory (2008 Study of the US Institute) was appointed
as a Member of the same order for services to education and
the community, and Glyn Harper (2010 NZ Research Scholar)
was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for services to
historical research.
Fulbright alumna Glenda Anthony
(2011 Fulbright-Harkness NZ Fellow) is to help lead a
substantial new research programme in mathematics education,
funded by a $450,600 Teaching and Learning Research
Initiative grant from the New Zealand Council of Education
Research. The project aims to improve mathematics teaching
methods and increase the number of students who engage with
the subject. Glenda plans to build on teacher training
reforms she observed during her exchange to the US,
developing instructional activities to help teachers engage
more effectively and ambitiously in the inquiry-based
learning model.
Several Fulbright alumni were involved
in the major Poetry Parnassus event in London in June, as
part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in build-up to the
Olympic Games. The largest poetry festival ever staged in
the UK, the Poetry Parnassus aimed to bring together poets
from all competing Olympic nations. Bill Manhire (1999
Visiting Professor in New Zealand Studies) represented New
Zealand, Tusiata Avia (2005 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand
Pacific Writer’s Residency) represented Samoa and Selina
Tusitala Marsh (1995 NZ Graduate Award) represented Tuvalu,
each attending to read their poetry at the international
event. Works from each poet were collected in the
publication The World Record: International Voices from
Poetry Parnassus (Bloodaxe Books), and recorded readings
are available for free download at www.soundcloud.com/southbankcentre/sets/poetry-parnassus-2012/
Fulbright
alumna Alice Te Punga Somerville (2000 NZ Graduate Award)
published her first book, Once Were Pacific: Māori
Connections to Oceania (University of Minnesota Press),
in June. Launched at Waiwhetū Marae in Lower Hutt, the book
explores how Māori and other Pacific peoples in Aotearoa
New Zealand frame their connection to the ocean, to New
Zealand and to each other through various creative works
including in poetry, fiction, theatre, film and music. The
book was researched and written with the support of a
Marsden Fast Start grant.
Fulbright alumna Briar March
(2009 NZ Graduate Student) returned to New Zealand in June,
just in time to screen her new 20 minute documentary Smoke
Songs in Auckland as part of the New Zealand International
Film Festival in July. Briar completed the film about Navajo
punk rock band Blackfire as part of her thesis work for a
Master of Fine Arts degree in documentary film and video
from Stanford University. She was delighted for the film to
receive its first New Zealand screenings as part of the
festival. To find out more about the film, which has
screened at several US festivals and was a finalist for the
2012 Student Academy Awards, visit www.smokesongs.com
In Memoriam
We are saddened by the recent passing of the following
alumnus:
Michael Green (1970 NZ Graduate
Student)
Important
Dates
August
25 Fulbright
Reflections: Te Moana – The Ocean
As part of a
quarterly series of Fulbright alumni talks, three alumni –
Peter Douglas, Joan Druett and David Wratt – share their
personal stories of passion, inspiration and thought
leadership in relation to the ocean.
3:00-4:30pm, Te
Marae, 4th Floor, The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa
Tongarewa, Wellington
See www.fulbright.org.nz for more
information
Ian Axford (New Zealand) Fellowships
in Public Policy Seminars
This year’s six Ian
Axford (New Zealand) Fellows in Public Policy present the
research they have conducted at host New Zealand government
agencies. Fellows’ published policy reports will be
launched at each seminar.
All seminars 12:30-1:30pm,
Nau Mai Room, Ground Floor, Te Puni Kōkiri House, 143
Lambton Quay, Wellington
IPANZ members register online
at www.ipanz.org.nz; non-members RSVP to admin@ipanz.org.nz
See www.fulbright.org.nz for more
information
20 Caroline Park – New
Zealand Marine Fisheries: Devolution, Self-Governance and
Other Service Delivery Models
21 David Vannier – Primary and Secondary
School Science Education in Aotearoa New Zealand: Policies
and Practices for a Better
Future
22 Cornelia Weiss – Respecting
Human Rights and the Rule of Law: The New Zealand Defence
Force
24 Bruce Vaughn – The United States
and New Zealand: Perspectives on a Pacific
Partnership
27 Craig Lebamoff – If You
Trust Us, You Trust Us. New Zealand in the Post 9/11 World:
Balancing Security and Privacy Rights the Kiwi
Way
29 Christian Stearns – Rebuilding
Sustainable Communities: Partnerships for Social
Housing
September
17 Harkness
Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice applications
close
These awards, valued at up to US$107,000, are
for promising New Zealand health policy researchers and
practitioners to conduct a policy-orientated research
project and work with leading health policy experts in the
US for up to 12 months.
See www.fulbright.org.nz for
more information
October
1 Fulbright-Meg Everton
Professional Enhancement Awards in Education applications
close
These awards, valued at up to NZ$5,000, are for
New Zealand teachers, principals and educational researchers
in early childhood, primary or secondary education to
undertake a professional development activity in the US for
12 to 90 days.
1 Fulbright US Graduate Awards
applications close
These awards, valued at NZ$30,000
plus travel, are for promising US graduate students to
undertake postgraduate study or research in any field at New
Zealand institutions.
See www.fulbright.org.nz for
more
information
November
1 Fulbright
New Zealand Travel Awards applications close
These
awards, valued at up to NZ$5,000, are for New Zealand
academics, artists or professionals to visit the US for 12
to 90 days in order to present their work to American
audiences.
See www.fulbright.org.nz for more
information
Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Travel Awards in Indigenous Development applications
close
These awards, valued at up to NZ$5,000, are for
New Zealand academics, artists or professionals to visit the
US for 12 to 90 days in order to present their work on a
theme of indigenous development to American
audiences.
See www.fulbright.org.nz for more
information
Fulbright Specialist Awards
applications close
These awards, valued at up to
NZ$8,400 plus travel, are for New Zealand academic
institutions to host US academics, artists or professionals
for two to six week programmes of lectures, seminars,
workshops, conferences or symposiums.
See
wwwfulbright.org.nz for more
information
More...
This electronic newsletter
features only selected highlights of our full Fulbright
Quarterly newsletter. The full newsletter can be downloaded
in PDF format here:
Fulbright New Zealand Quarterly, August
2012 (1.09Mb
PDF)
ends