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More About the Waikato Graduate Women Educational Trust

The Waikato Graduate Women Charitable Trust traces its origins to the early 1960s, when local members of the Federation of University Women formed a committee to sew academic hoods and hire regalia. Their work was entirely voluntary and the profits were used to support women students through grants and awards.

In the late 1980s a Charitable Trust was established, administered by Federation members, and by the mid 1990s two part time employees were appointed as the workload had become too great for the volunteers.

Today the Trust is an independent body that administers a sizable business. However, its mission has not changed. It is committed to helping women further their education by providing scholarships and awards open to women students of tertiary institutions across the region.

'Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible'

For a list of awards click the link below.

Meet the Trustees

Anne McKim - Trust Chair

Anne worked in the tertiary sector for over 35 years. She is Emeritus Professor of English at Waikato University and has held positions overseas, including Academic Visitor at the University of South Carolina and Lynn Wood Neag Distinguished Professor at the University of Connecticut. She has also been an educational researcher (2006-12) on a wide range of projects and from 2012-14 was part of a multidisciplinary project, Re-Envisioning Tertiary Education, focused on threshold concepts.

Anne has a PhD from Edinburgh University, an MA from Manitoba University and an MA (Hons) from Dundee University. She joined NZFUW in the 1990s.

Laura Hawksworth

Mauri ora ki a koutou!
Ko Hikurangi, ko Kohukohunui ngā maunga.
Ko Waiapu, ko Wairoa ngā awa.
Ko Horouta, ko Tainui ngā waka.
Ko Porourangi, ko Tara Te Irirangi ngā rangatira.
Ko Ngāti Porou, ko Ngāi Tai ngā iwi.
Ko Laura Hawksworth ahau.

Laura has worked as a primary teacher, a Resource Teacher of Māori and as a lecturer in teacher education at the University of Waikato. Laura has been the Tumuaki at Tōku Māpihi Maurea Kura Kaupapa Māori for the past 20 years. She is currently a dual leader of the Tainui Kāhui Ako. She is passionate about education, in particular Māori medium education.

Catherine Lang

Catherine has worked as a primary school teacher, in the Department of Education, and in teacher education at the University of Waikato. She has been involved in feminist and social justice activity across her adult life, and has been a member of the Waikato Branch of the Federation of University Women (now Waikato Graduate Women) since the 1980s. Catherine has a PhD from the University of Waikato, and is a Fellow of the New Zealand Educational Institute.

Janis Swan - Trust Awards Committee Convenor

Janis is an engineer who worked in industry for many years before lead the development of the University of Waikato’s Bachelor or Engineering with honours (BE(Hons)) degree. She has a long-term commitment to encouraging more women to consider engineering as a career. Janis has a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Waterloo (Canada) and MTech and BTech from Massey University. She has been on several science funding boards as well as on the Standards and Accreditation Board of Engineering. Janis is currently a member of the Earle Technology Trust Board and also the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers Accreditation Board. She was the second woman to become a Distinguished Fellow of Engineering New Zealand, is Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology and a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her contribution to Engineering. Janis has been a member of the New Zealand Federation of University Women (the predecessor of the Waikato Graduate Women’s Educational Trust) since the early 1970s.
Janis convenes the Trust’s Awards Committee.

Sarah Treble

Sarah works as Business Manager for the Annah Stretton Foundation and its  three charities RAW, Kia Puāwai and The Good Collective. She is  passionate about community-led initiatives leading the way to empower  women and is actively involved with Zonta, which advocates for equality for  women and girls, including through education. Sarah is a Chartered  Accountant who brings a wealth of business expertise to the Trust.

Tanya Shorter

Tanya Shorter is an Academic Staff Member at the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec)/Te Puukenga, where she has worked for the past two and a half years, having taught in the early childhood education (ECE) sector for 21 years, both here in Aotearoa and England. Tanya is passionate about professional development cycles and their relationship to motivation, collegial relationships, and pedagogical change.

Tanya holds a Master of Education with first class honours, a Postgraduate Diploma of Educational Leadership with distinction, and a Bachelor of Education, from the University of Waikato. She also holds a Diploma of Montessori Education and certificates in Playcentre and forest school education. She understands diversity and its relationship to education and choice.