About

Since 1948 Fulbright New Zealand has granted more than 3,150 exchange awards, sending more than 1,750 New Zealand graduate students, artists, academics and professionals on exchanges to the US and welcoming more than 1,400 Americans on exchanges to New Zealand. Worldwide, the Fulbright Programme has assisted more than 325,000 people from over 190 countries to study, research and teach abroad.

The programme has produced numerous remarkable alumni internationally, many of whom have gone on to make significant contributions to scholarly knowledge and public life as heads of state, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, politicians, judges, heads of corporations, university presidents, journalists, artists, professors and teachers.

• former Prime Minister and Ambassador Sir Wallace (Bill) Rowling
• Nobel prize-winning scientist Alan MacDiarmid
• anthropologist Dame Anne Salmond
• astronomer Rangi Matamua
• composer Gareth Farr
• dancer Sir Jon Trimmer
• musician Coco Solid (Jessica Hansell)
• architect Maurice K. Smith
• educationalists Dame Marie Clay and Dame Jean Herbison
• filmmakers Toa Fraser and Sima Urale
• historians Jamie Belich and Michael King
• judges Matthew Palmer, Sir David Baragwanath and Sir Kenneth Keith
• visual artists Anne Noble, Emma Fitts, Simon Morris
• Māori studies scholars Wiremu Kaa and Sir Tamati Reedy
• opera singers Iosefa Enari and Simon O’Neill
• playwright Roger Hall
• poets Allen Curnow, CK Stead, Bill Manhire, Cilla McQueen, Tusiata Avia, Hinemoana Baker, David Eggleton
• rocket scientist William Pickering
• writers Joan Druett and Witi Ihimaera

Fulbright New Zealand is governed by a Board of Directors with representatives from government and private sectors of New Zealand and the United States of America. The US Ambassador to New Zealand and the New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs serve as honorary chairpersons.

Honorary Chairpersons

• Rt Hon. Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Thomas Udall US Ambassador to NZ

Board Members

• Alastair Bisley (NZ) (Chairperson of the Board)
• Travis Horton (US), University of Canterbury (Deputy Chair and Treasurer)
• Christina Riesselman (US), University of Otago
• Rangi Mātāmua (NZ), Massey University
• Jennifer Curtin (NZ), University of Auckland
• Sarah Devlin (US) US Embassy
• Jocelyn Woodley (NZ), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

• Paul Altomari, Programme Manager, ph. +64 4 494 1507 or email Paul. Paul manages the Fulbright US Graduate Awards, the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching, the Fulbright Specialist Awards, and the Fulbright US Scholar Awards. Paul is also jointly managing the Fulbright NZ Scholar Awards and the Fulbright Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award on a temporary basis.
• Penelope Borland, Executive Director. Penelope oversees the strategic direction of Fulbright New Zealand and advises the board on strategy, policy and programmes. She manages external relationships, staff, finances and the galvanisation of Fulbright New Zealand as a contemporary organisation that is responsive to change and opens doors to tomorrow’s leaders.
• Tom Crick, Communications Manager, ph. +64 4 494 1503 or email Tom.
• Margot Fraser-Jones, Corporate Services Manager, ph. +64 4 494 1502 or email Margot
• Rebecca Haig, Engagement and Outreach Coordinator, ph. +64 4 494 1508 or email Rebecca.
• Persefoni Harvey, Executive Assistant and Board Secretary, ph. +64 4 494 1501 or email Persefoni.
• Lauren Summersell, Programme Manager, ph. +64 4 494 1506 or email Lauren. Lauren manages the Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Awards, the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer’s Residency, and the Ian Axford Fellowships in Public Policy. Lauren is also jointly managing the Fulbright NZ Scholar Awards and the Fulbright Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award on a temporary basis.

Fulbright New Zealand has Campus Advisers stationed on all major New Zealand campuses. Our Advisers are all Fulbright alumni who are available to discuss their exchange experiences with students and staff, as well as to give basic information about our awards.

AUT University

• Fiona Amundsen
  Fiona Amundsen is Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design at Auckland University of Technology. In 2019, Fiona received a NZ Scholar Award to research relationships between documentary photographic and video artworks and the socio-political realities of military capitalism at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Santa Clarita, California.
  Ph. +64 9 921 9999 ext 8786 or email Fiona
• Ineke Crezee
  Ineke Crezee is Aotearoa New Zealand’s first full Professor of Translation & Interpreting – at the School of Language and Culture at AUT University. In 2020, Ineke was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to interpreter and translator education. She was a Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Award recipient (in the area of Public Health) in 2014 and examined the bilingual Patient Navigator Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She also visited the world-renowned Master of Interpreting Program at Monterey Institute of International Studies.Ph. +64 9 921 9999 ext 7851 or email Ineke

The University of Auckland

• Timothy Fadgen
  Tim is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and the Programme Director of Master of Public Policy at the Universiy of Auckland. In 2014 Tim was awarded a Fulbright US Public Policy Fellowship and travelled to Samoa.
  Ph. +64 9 373 7599 (ext. 89391) or email Tim
• Rick Henry
  Rick Henry is a Senior Lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Auckland. Rick received a Fulbright-Ministry of Research, Science and Technology Graduate Award in 2013 and attended Iowa State University.
  Ph. +64 9 923 9280 or email Rick 

Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi

• Hine Waitere
  Hine Waitere is Director of the Indigenous Leadership Centre at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatāne. She obtained her PhD in Education from the University of Wisconsin as a 2001 Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Student.
  Ph. +64 7 307 1467 or email Hine

The University of Canterbury

• Geoff Rodgers
  Geoff Rodgers a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Canterbury. He researched earthquake-resistant structural design at Texas A&M University as a 2008 Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Student.
  Ph. +64 3 364 2987 ext 7492 or email Geoff
• Clemency Montelle
  Clemency Montelle is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Canterbury. She completed her PhD at Brown University, Providence Rhode Island on a Fulbright Scholarship in 2005 in the department of the History of Mathematics.
  Ph. +64 3 364 2267 or email Clemency

Lincoln University

• Timothy Clough
  Timothy Clough is a Professor of Environmental Bio-geochemistry in Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Lincoln University. He researched the movement of greenhouse gases in soil at University of California Davis as a 2000 Fulbright New Zealand Scholar and was the recipient of a 2003 Fulbright Travel Award.
  Ph. +64 3 423 0775 or email Tim

Massey University

• Adam Claasen – Albany Campus
  Adam Claasen is a Senior Lecturer in History at Massey University in Auckland. He was a 2005 Fulbright Visiting Lecturer in New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
  Ph. +64 9 414 0800 ext 43370 or email Adam
• Nick Roskruge  – Palmerston North Campus
  Nick Roskruge is a Senior Lecturer in Horticulture at Massey University in Palmerston North. He received a 2013 Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Travel Award to give lectures at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
  Ph. +64 6 356 9099 ext 84876 or email Nick
• Collin Bjork – Palmerston North/ Manawatū Campus and Online
  Collin Bjork is Lecturer in Science Communication and Podcasting at Massey University in Palmerston North. He received a Fulbright in 2012 to teach English at the University of Montenegro in Podgorica, Montenegro.
  Ph: +64 6 951 7493 or email Collin
  
• Scott Wilson – Scott Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in Critical Studies in Creative Media Production at Massey University. He was a 2015 Fulbright New Zealand Visiting Research Scholar at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Ph. +64 4979 3291 or email Scott

The University of Otago

• Phil Bremer
  Phil Bremer is Professor in the Food Science Department at the University of Otago. He conducted post-doctoral research in marine science at California State University, Long Beach as a 1989 Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Student.
  Ph. 64 3 479 5469 or email Phil

Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington

• Julia Talbot-Jones
  Julia Talbot-Jones is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Government at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. In 2011 Julia was the recipient of a Fulbright NZ Ministry of Science and Innovation Graduate Award and travelled to the University of California, Santa Barbara, to study for an MA in economics. Ph. +64 44635794 or email Julia.

The University of Waikato

• Nicola Daly
  Nicola Daly is an Associate Professor in Te Kura Toi Tangata, Division of Education at the University of Waikato. Nicola was a Fulbright NZ Scholar in 2019 at the University of Arizona in Tuscon, Arizona.
  Ph + 64 7 838 4298 or email Nicola

Wintec

• Paul Ewart
  Dr Paul Ewart is an Academic Staff Member in the Faculty Centre for Engineering and Industrial Design at Wintec. Paul was a 2011 Fulbright Fellow and visiting researcher at University of Texas-Pan American.
  Ph. +64 7 834 8800 extension 3877 or email Paul

Fulbright New Zealand is jointly funded by the New Zealand and United States governments, as well as through partnerships with public and private sector organisations.

The support of these partner organisations allows us to offer more awards to New Zealand graduate students wanting to study in the United States.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of:

• Creative New Zealand
• Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
• Ministry of Education
• Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
• The Arts House Trust

We also appreciate additional support from the Lois Roth Endowment.

Donations from alumni are warmly welcomed and appreciated. Please see the Donate page of our website for details of how to make a donation or provide for a bequest in your will.

• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012

Older annual reports are available on request.

Bright Sparks is our alumni newsletter that comes out three times a year. Click here to read the latest and past issues.

Sign up here to receive new issues electronically.

For other inquiries (including past issues, story ideas, physical copy request, or other questions), please email [email protected].

All other Fulbright New Zealand publications can be found here.