Te Tari o Te Tumu Ahurei
Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori provides strategic advice to ensure the University meets its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi.
Professor Rawinia Higgins is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori and reports directly to the Vice-Chancellor, who is the University’s chief executive.
Her team have a variety of roles, from championing engagement with mātauranga Māori across and beyond the University, to project-managing the building of Ngā Mokopuna (formerly the Living Pā), and leading the Āwhina student support team.
Professor Rawinia Higgins (Tūhoe) was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori / Tumu Ahurei of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington in 2016. Her research expertise is Māori language revitalisation, specifically language planning and policy.
Professor Higgins is a member of the Waitangi Tribunal, a Board member of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and the current Chair and Commissioner of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori—The Māori Language Commission. She is the first woman to be appointed to this position. In 2022 she was elected as a Pacific Region representative on the Global Taskforce for the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages. She is a Fellow of Te Apārangi the Royal Society of New Zealand, a Principal Fellow of the HEA and also holds an RSA/Cambridge CELTA qualification.
Associate Professor Meegan Hall (Pirirākau (Ngāti Ranginui)) provides strategic leadership to increase engagement with Māori knowledge and people in learning, teaching and research contexts, and supports Māori staff and Māori student achievement. Her research focuses on Māori in higher education.
Meegan is a principal fellow of the UK-based higher education advocacy group Advance HE, a principal investigator for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence, and an executive member of the Māori Association of Social Science.
Rhonda Thomson
Pou Hapai - Senior Adviser · Co-project manager, Living Pā
PVC Māori/Iwi Studies
Rhonda Thomson (Poutini Ngāi Tahu) is the Pou Hāpai / Senior Advisor in the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Māori at Te Herenga Waka―Victoria University of Wellington.
Rhonda is also a co-project manager of Ngā Mokopuna (formerly the Living Pā)―a project that has seen the University’s marae precinct redeveloped into one of the most environmentally responsible hubs in the world.
Linda Bowden
Executive Assistant and Office Manager
PVC Māori/Iwi Studies
Linda Bowden is the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori and manages the day-to-day operations of the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori.
Tara Fisher
Mata Awhirangi / Manager (Maori), Awhina
Āwhina
Tara Fisher (Waikato-Tainui) is the Mata Awhirangi / Manager of Āwhina. The Āwhina team help all tauira Māori make the most of their university experience and navigate our processes and services.
Tu Temara
Mata Awhinuke (Marae Operational Manager)
Marae o te Herenga Waka
Tu Temara (Tūhoe) is the operational manager of the University's marae, Te Tumu o Te Herenga Waka. Tu is responsible for maintaining the kawa of Te Herenga Waka, for promoting tikanga and te reo within the University, and for providing cultural support.