Geo-News

Society Awards 2011

In 2011, the New Zealand GeographicalSociety, in recognition of their significant con-tributions to the discipline, awarded Prof IainHay with the Distinguished New ZealandGeographer Award, while the DistinguishedService Award was presented to Dr GarthCant, Roger Baldwin and Murray Fastier.Extracts from their citations follow.

Other awards made were the President’sAward for the Best Doctoral Thesis, which wasshared by Dr Tim Appelhans from the Univer-sity of Canterbury and Dr Edward Challiesfrom the University of Victoria.The President’saward for the best Masters Thesis went toWoodrow Pattison from the University of Can-terbury. Dr Gregory Breetzke from the Univer-sity of Canterbury received the President’sAward for Emerging Researcher in Geography,and Associate Professor Simon Kingham fromthe University of Canterbury received thePresident’s Award for Graduate ResearchSupervision.

Etienne NelDepartment of Geography

University of Otago

Distinguished New ZealandGeographer: Professor Iain Hay

Professor Hay (Fig. 1), who is one of NewZealand geography’s most internationally dis-tinguished graduates, received the award forthe broad contribution, which he has made toscholarship in the country. As stated in his cita-tion, his work has been infused with a quest toincorporate core human values into geographicresearch and pedagogy. Iain’s work has soughtto advance an ethical stance in research prac-tice, to introduce a wider range of qualitativemethodologies into the implementation ofstudy design and methods and to promote theadoption of creative and critically aware teach-ing practice. In sum, he has striven to bringteaching and research into closer relationshipthrough promoting innovation and integrity.

Iain received his Honours degree from Can-terbury in 1983, his MA with distinction fromMassey in 1985 and his PhD from the Univer-sity of Washington in 1988, where he estab-lished a research trajectory in medical/healthgeography. In 1989, he published The CaringCommodity: The provision of health care inNew Zealand (Oxford, Auckland). His careersubsequently evolved to emphasise geographi-cal education. His edited volume, QualitativeResearch Methods in Human Geography hasbecome a main stay of many Australasian andoverseas research courses in Human Geogra-phy, and the book’s third edition was publishedin 2010 (Oxford, Toronto).

Iain has contributed significantly to institu-tion building in geographical education andwas a member of the original InternationalNetwork in Learning and Teaching in Geogra-phy formed in 1999 that is now hosted at Can-terbury. He also took a leadership role in theJournal of Geography in Higher Education andwas co-founder of the journal Ethics, Place and

Figure 1 Professor Iain Hay.

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Environment (now Ethics, Policy and Environ-ment) and the journal’s first Asia/Pacific Editor.

He is a long-standing member of the NewZealand Geographical Society and has main-tained strong links with New Zealand geogra-phers and the New Zealand geographycommunity and has been a visitor to all NewZealand geography departments at varioustimes. He has held visiting positions interna-tionally at the universities of Edinburgh, Ken-tucky, Manchester and New South Wales(Australian Defence Forces Academy). In 2009,he was awarded a Doctor of Letters (LittD)from Canterbury in 2009 for his work on ‘Geog-raphies of Domination and Oppression’.

Richard le HeronSchool of Environment

The University of Auckland

Distinguished Service Award:Dr Garth Cant

Dr Garth Cant from the University of Canter-bury received the Distinguished Service Awardin recognition of his long and outstandingservice to geographical education in this coun-try’s high schools, research in rural studies, pro-motion of indigenous studies and respect for theTreaty of Waitangi in university teaching andresearch programmes, and service at all levelswithin the New Zealand Geographical Society.Key contributions that he made include thedevelopment and implementation of the FormsV and VII geography syllabi, studies on ruralchange, assistance rendered to the Land UseAdvisory Council and UNESCO. In 2005,together with Anake Goodall and Justine Inns,he co-edited Discourses and Silences: Indig-enous Peoples,Risks and Resistance.Dr Cant hasserved on Branch and National committees ofthe New Zealand Geographical Society. He wasalso Honorary Treasurer of the New ZealandGeographical Society for several years and iscurrently the Society’s Patron. According to hiscitation, over a long career, Dr Cant has pro-vided distinguished service to geography andgeographers in New Zealand.

Peter HollandDepartment of Geography

University of Otago

Distinguished Service Award:Roger Baldwin

Roger Baldwin, received his award in recogni-tion of the significant contribution that he hasmade to geography and geographical educationin New Zealand for over 40 years. Since gradu-ating from the University of Canterbury andtraining at the Christchurch College of Educa-tion, he has been a geography teacher and Headof Department at a variety of schools, in NewZealand, Niue Island and the UK. He recentlyserved for 10 years as a Geography and SocialSciences advisor to schools,based at the Univer-sity of Canterbury, until his retirement in 2010.In the latter role, he provided regional andnational leadership for geography teachers.Thisleadership included involvement in geographyassessment related to the implementation of theNational Certificate of Educational Achieve-ment. He developed sample assessment activi-ties, led regional workshops for teachersthroughout the South Island and wrote anumber of articles on best practice in assess-ment. Roger’s most significant recent contribu-tion to geographical education has been relatedto the development and implementation of theNew Zealand Curriculum and serving as amember of the Ministry of Education’s socialsciences reference group during its develop-mental phase. Since that time, he has led profes-sional development programmes for geographyteachers focusing on curriculum implementa-tion,presented papers at national social sciencesconferences and written a number of articles forthe Ministry of Education’s web site and for theNew Zealand Geographer.

Peter HollandDepartment of Geography

University of Otago

Distinguished Service Award:Murray Fastier

Murray Fastier received his award in recogni-tion of his long and outstanding service to geog-raphy education in New Zealand at variouslevels.This involvement has included at second-ary school and tertiary education institutions,voluntary roles in regional and national subjectassociations as well as Ministry of Education

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and New Zealand Qualification Authority ini-tiatives. As a teacher and curriculum leader inschools, Murray was responsible for driving thedirection of geography at the secondary schoollevel over many years. He participated in anumber of curriculum and assessment reformsthat have been influential in shaping the natureof geography being taught in schools today.Through a series of research papers, in the NewZealand Journal of Geography and the NewZealand Geographer among others and confer-ence presentations, he has contributed to thebody of research regarding the teaching ofgeography. He has served on a range ofregional and national organizations and con-

tributed to the National Certificate of Educa-tional Achievement review. In addition, he hasbeen a National Examiner and National Mod-erator and has had extensive involvement inthe facilitation and provision of professionaldevelopment for geography teachers. Of late,he has contributed to the development of thegeography components of the New ZealandCurriculum and the related Teaching andLearning Guidelines-Geography and hasserved for many years as the Executive Officerof the Board of Geography Teachers.

Murray FastierNew Zealand Board of Geography Teachers

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© 2012 The AuthorNew Zealand Geographer © 2012 New Zealand Geographical Society