Fulbright New Zealand announced the winners of over sixty
Fulbright awards for 2007 at its annual Awards Presentation Ceremony held
at the Beehive in Wellington on June 13th.
2007 Fulbright grantees pictured with
Rt Hon Winston Peters and Ambassador William McCormick
For the second consecutive year, Fulbright will send its largest ever
cohort of New Zealand graduate students to study and research in the United
States – this year 24 New Zealand graduate awards were presented
including the prestigious new International Fulbright Science and Technology
Award valued at over NZ$250,000, to Irene Ballagh from the University
of Otago.
Fulbright New Zealand graduate awards presented this year will fund study
and research in fields as diverse as earthquake engineering, dairy production,
financial risk management, child oncology, energy law, indigenous rights
and graphic design.
Also recognised at the event were ten Fulbright US graduate students who
have been based at universities around the country since February, and
some of the many participants in the Fulbright Scholar Programme for more
advanced academics, artists and professionals.
Speaking at the event, Rt Hon Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs
and Honorary Chair of Fulbright New Zealand, acknowledged the Fulbright
programme’s great contribution to the strengthening of bonds between
New Zealand and the US over the past six decades.
“[The Fulbright programme] is part of our common history and holds
great promise for the future,” he said. “Any relationship between
two countries is only as strong as the bonds between those people who
underpin that relationship. In this regard, Fulbright is the best kind
of programme, as it actively encourages New Zealanders and Americans to
spend extended time learning and teaching in each other’s societies.”
Ruth Harley, Chairperson of the Fulbright
New Zealand Board, addresses the crowd
Tribute was paid to the generations of New Zealanders and Americans who
have already participated in the Fulbright programme.
“The recent passing of such esteemed alumni as Professor Alan MacDiarmid,
Dame Marie Clay and Dame Jean Herbison has served to remind us that the
Fulbright programme has already touched a lifetime of participants,”
noted Ruth Harley, Chairperson of the Fulbright New Zealand Board and
herself a Fulbright alumna.
“Those [grantees] receiving awards tonight join an impressive list
of almost 2,500 New Zealanders and Americans who have enjoyed Fulbright
exchanges to each other’s countries since our programme began, and
stand as testimony to the incredible range of talent we have in these
two partner nations.”
