Read the teaching and learning profiles of the
2025 Te Whatu Kairangi | Aotearoa Tertiary Educator Award winners
Download the 2025 Awardee Profile booklet (PDF, 1.1Mb)
Richard Hope
Ara Institute of Canterbury | Ara rau taumata rau
Richard believes that developing ākonga who are empowered and engaged in the process of learning is critical to building resilient people who will flourish in society today, and in the future.
Haani Huata-Allen
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa
What drives her teaching is her belief that every student she teaches will eventually lead to the reestablishment of te reo Māori as the primary language of their home.
Lefaoali’i Associate Professor Dion Enari
Unitec
Once classifying himself as a high school failure, Dr Dion Enari is now the first Pasifika Associate Professor at Unitec. His teaching, research and media commentary has helped lead impressive educational change for his people.
Dr Moeata Keil
The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau
Dr Keil is an exceptional educator whose teaching practice is both transformative and deeply student-centred. Her teaching scores, which consistently exceed academic, faculty, and university benchmarks, reflect the high regard in which she is held by her students.
Associate Professor Melissa McLeod
University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka
Her teaching emphasises critical engagement with public health and epidemiological concepts through an equity lens, drawing from her own positioning and experiences. She encourages learners to reflect on their power and positioning, better enabling them to identify and address systemic health inequities.
Master of Māori and Indigenous Leadership Programme
University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha
They cultivate bold kaupapa Māori leaders grounded in mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga. This is not a business leadership course, but a movement rooted in whānau, hapū, and iwi aspirations. The MMIL group nurtures authentic leadership anchored in identity and culture.
Dr Antonie Alm
University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka
Through three decades of tertiary teaching, Antonie has worked to connect pedagogy, research, and learner experience in ways that expand the ways students learn languages and, in the process, imagine who they can become.
Dr Nasser Giacaman
The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau
Dr Giacaman is a natural innovator in the field of software engineering education with a lengthy track record of raising the bar for learner experience.
Te Atakura Team
UCOL | Universal College of Learning
Te Atakura is a culturally responsive relationships-based approach, guided by kaupapa Māori values, working towards achieving ōritetanga (equity) within tertiary education in Aotearoa.
Chloe Humphreys and Juliane Tautz
Otago Polytechnic | Te Kura Matatini ki Otago
Responding to wellbeing issues within the hospitality industry, Chloe Humphreys and Juliane Tautz aim to equip both emerging and established culinary leaders with the skills to foster hauora within their workplaces.
New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Team
Auckland University of Technology | AUT
The NZSL team’s practice is based on allyship between Deaf and hearing communities. The team reinforces this approach by fostering active partnerships with diverse stakeholders, ensuring authentic learning opportunities in the community for their ākonga.