Category: The Trust

Academic Awards Programme

Each year, The KEECT funds approximately 110 educational awards totaling $600,000, predominantly for women.  Funding varies for each award from $2,000 up to $18,000 to assist with study expenses, fees or retraining.

The award selection process is overseen by an experienced Awards Committee and the approach is both academic and holistic, considering things such as financial need, whether the applicant is first in family to study, or any challenges they might have.

Awardee Testimonials

FAQ’s About the Awards Programme

You are most welcome to email Awards Coordinator, Katrina Ford with questions about any of our awards awards@kateedgertrust.org.nz

*Please note for those applying through the AUT or University of Auckland Scholarships portals, applications usually open 6 weeks before the closing date.

Awards List

For closing dates, eligibility criteria, and application forms for awards, click on the individual awards below:

UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS	POSTGRADUATE AWARDS	DOC/POSTDOCTORAL AWARDS
Tressa Thomas Retraining Awards	Practicum	First-Year Doctoral
New Start Awards (for graduates of the UoA New Start Programme)	Postgraduate Diploma	Dame Dorothy Winstone Doctoral Completion Award
Foundation Awards (for graduates of an approved tertiary institute Foundation course)	Bachelor with Honours Degree	Post-Doctoral Research
Practicum	Master’s Degree
Bachelor with Honours Degree

Awardee Alumni Stories

2014 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

2015 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

2016 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

2017 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

2018 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

2019 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

2021 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

2022 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

2023 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery

SPONSORED AND DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC AWARDS ARTS MacAndrew Award in Performing Arts NZ Contemporary Art Award Women in Fine Arts Award in memory of Carol Schofield

BUSINESS Women in Business Award sponsored by Hilary Lewis

ENGINEERING Vinka Marinovich Awards in Engineering Watercare/Ghella Abergeldie Engineering Award

HEALTH Māori/Pasifika Midwifery Award Midwifery/Nursing Clinical Placement Award in Memory of Ngaire Miller Women in Medicine Award

LAW Women in Law Award MUSIC & PSYCHOLOGY Master of Music Therapy Award sponsored by the Gattung Foundation Master of Music Therapy Award sponsored by MusicHelps Vinka Marinovich Awards in Music SCIENCE Women in Science Award in memory of Sylvia Tredwell SPECIAL AWARD The KEECT Resilience Award in memory of Elizabeth Crannigan This special award is given to a Kate Edger Awardee in recognition of their resilience and commitment to achieving their education goals. EMPLOYEE & INSTITUTION SPECIFIC AUT Fashion Design Award Westferry Property Services Rick Sowman Educational Award Bed Bath & Beyond Employee Award Bed Bath & Beyond MIT Award Bed Bath & Beyond Manurewa High School Award

Partner & Sponsor Stories

Nina Tomaszyk, General Manager

The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust (KEECT) and Academic Dress Hire (ADH)

 nina.tomaszyk@kateedgertrust.org.nz

Nina has been at the helm of the organisation since 2017, and her considerable experience in both the corporate and not-for-profit worlds has given her a unique perspective on the importance of running a social enterprise that funds and supports a charitable trust.  “With The KEECT Awards Programme funding $600,000 awards annually and being almost entirely dependent on the proceeds of Academic Dress Hire, it is a balancing act of providing the best customer experience in the most cost-effective way.”

Nina is passionate about education and the opportunity it provides to create better outcomes.  The KEECT’s mission to fund, encourage, advance and promote education is at the heart of every decision she makes, and building meaningful and ongoing relationships with staff, graduates, awardees and sponsor partners is something that Nina excels at.  Her goal for 2022 is to expand the Trust’s sponsor partnership funding arm to be able to offer even more awards in the future.

“Being able to provide valuable financial and emotional support that ensures successful educational outcomes is my driving force. Seeing our awardees stand proudly at the Awards Ceremony having their hard work and success acknowledged in front of their friends and whānau is what it’s all about for me. And I get that same wonderful experience when customers come for their graduation and legal regalia. It is a real ‘moment’ for them and whānau, sometimes it is their first real achievement.”

 

Dr. Katrina Ford, Awards Coordinator

The KEECT

awards@kateedgertrust.org.nz

Katrina has a PhD in History from the University of Auckland and has worked as a lecturer at the University of Auckland and the University of Waikato. She has also worked as a researcher in the public health and social services fields.

She has been the Awards Coordinator at The KEECT for over three years and manages the extensive Awards Programme, overseeing the applications, the Selection Panels and the processing of the many awards approved by The KEECT board, totalling approximately $600,000 per year.  These awards range from $2,000 to $18,000, mostly funded from the proceeds of Academic Dress Hire, but also funded from sponsored partnerships or bequests.  She values the opportunity to use her knowledge to support the educational dreams of people from all walks of life.  Katrina lives in West Auckland with her two children and adopted greyhound.

 

Lisa Turvey, Operations Manager

Academic Dress Hire

operations@academicdresshire.co.nz

Sarah McLeay, Communications and Projects Manager

The KEECT and Academic Dress Hire 

comms@kateedgertrust.org.nz

Sarah is responsible for communications including website content, social media, and newsletters, as well as managing projects and events for The KEECT and ADH.  She also helps out at ADH during the busy graduation periods.

Sarah has worked and volunteered across a variety of roles alongside raising 4 children, and brings a passion for the not-for-profit sector, and for assisting women in need. She particularly enjoys utilising her written communication skills to tell the stories of The KEECT award recipients.

“The positive social impact of education on socio-economic outcomes is something we see first hand while following the journeys of our awardees. I am always humbled by the courage, perseverance, and tenacity of the awardees to succeed and make their whānau and communities proud. I feel very privileged to be working for an organisation that plays a trusted and valuable role in that success”.

Academic Dress Hire – Stand Proud
A social enterprise, funding and supporting education

All proceeds fund The KEECT Awards Programme.

 

For all your graduation requirements and legal attire – top quality, best value and best service

 

 

Academic Dress Hire is renowned as New Zealand’s premier regalia hire and sale business, and the preferred and official supplier to schools and universities in the Auckland and Northland region.  

Hire or Buy

 

 

Visit Academic Dress Hire website

 

We supply graduation regalia and legal attire for:

• University graduates
• University staff
• School Prizegivings and graduations
• Legal admission to the bar ceremonies and court appearances
• Korowai can also be purchased

Kate Milligan Evans (née Edger, 6 January 1857 – 6 May 1935)

The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust is named in recognition of Kate Milligan Edger, who in 1877 was the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in New Zealand and the second in the British Empire.  Notably, Kate Edger’s granddaughter Jill Smith served on the board of trustees for 17 years before retiring in 2022.

Kate Edger was a pioneer, a graduate, an educator, a wife, a mother, an activist, and an advocate for community causes.

She believed in the importance of women’s education in creating a better society.  She was a role model for and champion of the female suffrage movement, and she strongly advocated for women to use the vote to bring about change and improvement in the world.

To Kate, education was as much about improving one’s character and preparing to serve the community, as it was about educating the mind.  She believed it was the responsibility of those who had received an education to go on to use their skills and knowledge to make a difference in the world.

Kate was born in 1857 in England. Her family emigrated from England to New Zealand in 1862.

Edger and her sisters received much of their early education from their father the Rev. Samuel Edger who was a graduate of the University of London and an outspoken supporter of women’s equal rights in society.   Kate was academically gifted but as there was no formal secondary school education for girls in Auckland at the time, her father applied for her to attend the Auckland College and Grammar School where she was placed in the top class.  When she later applied for permission to sit for a university scholarship, she applied as K.Edger, omitting her gender, and based on her excellent grades, the application was successful. To study as the only woman in a class of young men must have required courage and perseverance; although she said in later years that her classmates treated her with courtesy, she was required to enter the class ‘with downcast eyes.’

She graduated on 11 July 1877 with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Latin.  Her achievement was widely celebrated in Auckland society and 1,000 people came to cheer as the Bishop awarded her with a camellia to symbolise her achievement and ‘unpretending excellence’.

Edger and her sister, Lilian, both went on to obtain Master’s degrees from Canterbury College (now the University of Canterbury).

Edger’s first teaching position was at Christchurch Girls’ High School.  She then became the founding principal of Nelson College for Girls in 1883 aged only 26 years.  In addition to being the ‘Lady Principal’, she taught English grammar, composition and literature, physical science, Latin, mathematics, singing and geography.  She had a reputation for being a committed and compassionate teacher, who was as concerned about building the character of her students as she was about their academic achievements.

Photo credit: Miss Kate Edger, Teacher. Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 31040

In 1890, Kate married William Evans, a Congregationalist Minister.  She resigned her position at Nelson College for Girls when she became pregnant with the first of their three sons.  During her time there, she had established high standards of education, encouraged young women to believe in the value of their minds, and created an institution the Nelson community could be proud of.

Marriage and motherhood did not bring an end to Kate’s career. Alongside her role as a wife and mother, she was immersed in church and community work, often conducting sermons in her husband’s church.  She became involved with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) which was leading the campaign for women’s suffrage.  Kate spoke out in support of women gaining the vote, and she was used as an example by the campaign to show how women could make positive contributions to society.  After the vote had been won in 1893, Kate continued to speak out on the power of female political engagement and exhorted women to use their votes to help improve society.  The WCTU became a major part of Kate’s life and she served as an assistant Corresponding Secretary, White Ribbon Associate Editor, Recording Secretary, National Superintendent of Scientific Temperance Teaching, and National Superintendent for Peace and Arbitration.  She was also a founding member of Wellington’s Society for the Protection of Women and Children, a Dominion Secretary of the League of Nations Union of New Zealand, and a member of the National Council of Women.

In 1893, the family moved to Wellington.  Kate and William became heavily involved in social work in the Wellington community, seeking ways to address issues such as unemployment, poverty and prison reform.  Through her work with the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, Kate campaigned to improve conditions for female domestic servants and lobbied the government to introduce female police officers.  As William’s work was unpaid, Kate became the main breadwinner for the family, running a small private school for girls, named Dehra Doon, from the family’s residence in Mt Victoria. Her energy and passion for her work made her a well-known and admired figure in Wellington. She was granted the honour of heading the procession of women graduates at the Golden Jubilee of Canterbury College in 1923 and was awarded the King’s Service Medal in 1935.  She died shortly after.

Kate’s life epitimised the values she tried to instil in the young women she taught.  Intellectual achievements were important, but so were moral character, humility and public service.

Her legacy lies in the example she set for several generations of young women; that their minds were important to making a difference to the world and that female participation in public life was critical to a civilized society.  Her name lives on through two important educational institutions; the Kate Edger Information Commons at the University of Auckland, and through this Trust.

 

The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust’s main purpose is to help others achieve in furthering their education through the provision of financial awards and other assistance. The Trust is named in recognition of Kate Milligan Edger (1857-1935), the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in NZ and the second in the British Empire.

The Trust is funded by Academic Dress Hire, a social enterprise whereby all the proceeds are used to fund The KEECT and financial awards.  When you hire from Academic Dress Hire, you are supporting education in the community.

Founders of The KEECT

Emeritus Professor Dame Charmian O’Connor

DNZM, CBE, JP, MSc, PhD (NZ), DSc (Auck), FRSNZ, FNZIC, FRSC, LTCL

 

Past Chair and Trustee of The KEECT
Past Chair of The KEECT Awards Committee

Dame Charmian was instrumental in establishing The KEECT in 2005 serving as Chair from 2005 – 2013, and then as Chair of the Awards Committee and a Trustee up until her recent retirement in October 2021.   The Trust grew out of the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women, who started assisting with regalia for graduations over 40 years ago.  Academic Dress Hire was established as a social enterprise under the Trust, ensuring the continuation of funding for The KEECT Awards Programme.

Dame Charmian has had a long and illustrious academic career including over 55 years as either a student or member of staff of the Chemistry Department at the University of Auckland and has over 300 publications in refereed international journals.  She was appointed Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Staff Development and Equal Employment Opportunities 1987-1998 and Deputy Vice-Chancellor 1994.  She was a Council Member of MIT for 13 years and of Unitec for 10 years.  She has also served on many national committees, including The Royal Society of New Zealand, the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry and was Chair of the Science Sub-Committee for UNESCO.

She is passionate about providing opportunities for women to undertake tertiary education, whether it be in assisting mature women to undertake study in order to return to a profession or to take up work in the community, or in encouraging young women to enter University or a Polytech and to extend their studies so as to reach their potential in creative activities or research.

Jill Smith BA

Past Trustee and granddaughter of Kate Edger

Jill has been a founding member of the Trust alongside Dame Charmian since its inception in 2005.  She is the granddaughter of our namesake Kate Edger, and is proud to be connected with the Trust in her grandmother’s name – which works to carry on her ideals to further the higher education of women.

Jill attended Auckland Girls’ Grammar School and gained a Bachelor of Arts degree at Auckland University College.  She then trained as a singer and was given the soprano role in the inaugural production of NZ Opera’s The Medium which toured and played in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin Festivals with the NZSO.  Jill later married, had a family and enjoyed a rewarding teaching career.

 

TRUSTEES

Stephanie Harris (Chair) LLB

Joint Managing Partner
Glaister Ennor 

Stephanie has been one of The KEECT Trustees since 2007 and in the role of Chair since 2013.   As joint managing partner at Glaister Ennor, she acts for a number of high profile businesses and attends to their day to day business requirements, in particular,  as they relate to terms and conditions of supply, security interests, general structuring and finance.

“I aim to deliver excellence to my clients in terms of my legal technical skills and to provide strategic problem solving solutions together with a clear and detailed understanding of what is the best client outcome.”

Stephanie acts for investors and developers with commercial property portfolios in both the private and public sectors. With over 20 years of experience, she has invaluable expertise in undertaking large and complex property transactions and developments.

Margaret Crannigan Allen  MBA

Manager, Scholarships and Graduations
The University of Auckland

Margaret has been with the Trust since 2009 alongside her role as Manager of Scholarships and Graduations at the University of Auckland.   On an annual basis, the university administers more than $40M of scholarships to its students.  With the use of scholarships as a recruitment tool, the office has an important strategic role at the University.

Margaret sees students from their arrival at University from school, right up to their graduation – at undergraduate and post-graduate level.  One of the most enjoyable parts of Margaret’s role, she feels, is helping students to complete their education with financial support – and reading the success stories as they graduate.

Margaret graduated with an MBA with specialisations in Corporate Governance and Negotiation, both of which have helped in her role as a trust member.

Hilary Lewis 

BCom, MBA and Master of Commercialisation & Entrepreneurship

Hilary is now in her second tenure as a Trustee having joined the board in 2018.  She attended Rangitoto College before heading to the University of Auckland to do a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting).  Hilary subsequently followed that up with a Master of Business Administration and Master of Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship, both also at University of  Auckland.

Her strength and experience is in leading programmes of change, technology, innovation and business process improvement in large, medium, entrepreneurial and social enterprises.  Success has come from clarity of vision, strong commercial imperative, attention to detail, and an ability to communicate to and engage all involved.  This is supported by a strong finance, IT, commercial, strategic and executive background.

Hilary is passionate about a number of issues facing women today, having been involved of Breast Cancer Cure (funding research to find a cure for breast cancer) for 12 years, and Shine (focused on preventing domestic violence) and sees education as being a key driver of greater diversity and equality in our community.

Professor Linda Bryder

MA (1st Class Hons) (Auck) DPhil (Oxon) FRSNZ FNZAH

Linda has been a trustee since early 2021.  She has taught in the Department of History, University of Auckland, since 1988 and has been Professor of History since 2005.  Originally completing her MA (1st Class Hons) at the University of Auckland in 1980, Linda was awarded her DPhil at the University of Oxford in 1985, where she held a Research Fellowship and subsequently a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Queen’s College Oxford. She maintains her links with Britain; since 2007 she has been an Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Since joining the academic staff of the University of Auckland in 1988, Linda has served on many University and Faculty Committees, including Research, Staffing and Library Committees.

She has been Head of Department, and has served as Associate Dean Research for the Faculty of Arts. She has been awarded a University Research Excellence Award and a Teaching Excellence Award. The latter was based on her successful record of mentoring and supervising graduate students, particularly at PhD level. She has also mentored in the University’s  Women in Leadership programme. She currently serves on the Auckland Libraries Heritage Trust, and is co-editor of the New Zealand Journal of History.

Ru Wilkie 

BSc Psychology, BCom Marketing, and Management

Joining the board in January 2022, The Trust is delighted to welcome Ru Wilkie as its newest trustee. She is an experienced Management Consultant skilled in developing and delivering strategic projects with measurable customer outcomes. Ru’s skill set is a valuable addition to the Trust on the next exciting phase of its journey with the rebranding and upgrading of its digital presence, as well as exploring the growth and diversification of funding sources.

Ru’s past key roles include Acting Director of International Business and Director of Marketing for NZMA, Head of SME Marketing for NZ Post, setting up a Sales Academy for Vodafone NZ, and Account Director for Telecom NZ. More recently she has worked with several vocational colleges creating new brands from inception. This included developing marketing and sales strategies for domestic and international businesses, developing and implementing their digital strategies, and ensuring that strategic planning flowed through into better outcomes across each business.

Ru lives in Auckland with her family and is passionate about community and education. She recognises the role that education plays not only to empower and change the future of the individual, but also on their immediate family and community.

Dr. Jane Horan 

BA, MA (first class hons, Auck), PhD (Auck)

Jane is an economic anthropologist with expertise in the analysis of economy and the way this intersects with gender, political economy, and organisational structure. She is an exacting and academically rigorous social researcher and critical thinker. She has worked extensively over the last 20 years in contract research and evaluation, designing and conducting research projects for corporate organisations, NGOs, government, and in academia. She runs her own research company, Plain Jane, and is an associate at BERL, and a collaborator at Play CoLab.

Jane finished her PhD at the University of Auckland in 2012, and was awarded the Dame Joan Metge Post-Doctoral Award from The KEECT in 2013. She volunteered to join the Awards selection committee the following year, and as of April 2023, has been welcomed on as the newest member of the Board of Trustees.

Jane is passionate about social enterprise and the subversive impact this, along with education, can have on inequity. She is delighted to be taking her involvement with the Kate Edger Trust to the next level.

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa
Good afternoon and a warm welcome to you all…
To our Honoured Guests; our speakers; our sponsor partners who have supported the awards – thank you for joining us today.
Welcome to our Awards Committee and the Selection Panellists – selecting the awardees from so many wonderful applications is such a difficult job! Thank you for your time and for your involvement with the Trust.
And of course – welcome to you, our awardees. We are here to honour you. You have achieved so much; with your families, whanau and friends who have helped over the years and are now celebrating your success. Over the last year or so, we have had different challenges, with lockdowns, studying from home… many congratulations to you all for persevering with your dreams.

The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust – we provide funds – promoting, advancing and encouraging education.
What better way to fulfil our purpose than to support our students of today, to assist you into the future, to help you, your families and your communities.
On the front of your programme is a quote from W.E.B Dubois, pioneering African American sociologist and civil rights activist – “Education must not simply teach work, it must teach life”.

We firmly believe in the wider Power of Education. Although gaining a job is an important outcome, an education provides much more as well. You will have your horizons broadened and be exposed to new ideas and new ways of thinking that may change your life forever; many of you will meet new people and make life-long friends. Your education may change the life path that you were on, or it may confirm the path you have always wanted to follow. In the world today, it is more important than ever that we are equipped with the knowledge we need to make well-informed, well-reasoned decisions about the things that are important in our lives. Your education, no matter what you are studying, will help you to do this.

Some of you may not have been able to study without the financial support; some of you may be the first in your family to attend university. For all of you receiving an award today, the course of study that you have chosen will be of huge benefit to you personally in the future. But the benefits go beyond you and extend to your families, your communities and to society as a whole. The Trust is immensely proud that we can play a small part in helping you to change the world in whatever way, big or small, that you choose.

The trust is named after Kate Edger – in 1877, Kate became the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree and the first woman in the British Empire to earn a BA (in Maths and Latin). Kate’s original graduation hood is here with us today – on the mannequin! Kate also believed in the Power of Education and in the importance of women’s education in creating a better society. She was also a great supporter of and role model for the Suffrage Movement and she strongly advocated for women to use the vote to bring about change and improvement in the world. To Kate, education was about improving one’s character and preparing to serve the community, as it was about educating the mind. She believed it was the responsibility of those who had received an education to go on to use their skills and knowledge to make a difference in the world.

When Kate graduated, in the Choral Hall in Symonds Street, just a few minutes walk from here, the crowds gathered. And in honour of her achievement, the Bishop of Auckland presented her with a white camellia, said to symbolise unpretending excellence. The white rose you have been given today is also to symbolise this – unfortunately it is the wrong season for camellias! We are here to acknowledge your achievements, your unpretending excellence. Congratulations on your award.

I would also like to acknowledge Bessie Te Wenerau Grace, affiliated with Ngāti Tūwharetoa who was the first Māori woman to graduate from university, in 1926. This was 49 years after Kate Edger had paved the way. Interesting that Kate Edger was the first principal at Nelson College for Girls, which was the school that Bessie attended a few years later.

We would like to thank all of our loyal supporters, including our generous donors and partner sponsors, many of whom have representatives here today- Vinka Marinovich estate; the Titirangi and Block House Bay Women’s Institute; Bed Bath & Beyond, Timeless Images Photography, the NZ Contemporary Art Trust, Scarecrow Florist, Watercare and Westferry Property Services. Despite the challenging times with Covid19 where we had months of no income (a large part of our income comes from hiring and selling of regalia for graduation, school prizegiving and legal ceremonies), we were still able to fund over 90 awards in the last 12 months, worth nearly $500,000.
The opportunities and choices that young women have available to them today, are a direct result of the efforts of several generations of women who have gone before you – the Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust is a living example of this whakapapa. We hope that you will go out into the world with the benefits of the education you have gained, so that future generations can reap the rewards of the impact that you will make.

Before I finish, there is someone I am pleased to introduce as today marks an auspicious occasion.

After a long association with the Trust, Emeritus Professor Dame Charmian O’Connor has announced her retirement. She was the driving force behind the setting up of The KEECT in 2005, she served as the Chair of the Trust then as a Trustee and Chair of the KEECT Awards Committee until the present day. Charmian’s incredible foresight, her hard work and wisdom has now resulted in over 1,200 awardees and the Trust is now known as one of the major educational funders in the Auckland Region.

Like Kate Edger, Dame Charmian had many firsts in her illustrious career, including:

1973 – first woman in New Zealand to be conferred to the degree of a Doctor of Science.

1986 – first female professor of chemistry at University of Auckland (a lecturer in chemistry since 1958)

She authored and co-authored more than 300 scientific papers in refereed journals and held many administrative roles including serving as the inaugural assistant vice-chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor in 1994. When she retired from the University of Auckland in 2004, O’Connor was conferred the title of Professor Emeritus, a very fitting acknowledgement of all that she had contributed during her academic career.

In the 1989 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Charmian was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to chemistry, education and the community. Later in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours, she was awarded a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to chemistry and education.

While she will be taking a step back from active involvement, her amazing intellect will not be entirely lost to us as Charmian will continue to serve on some Award Selection Panels and she will always be a precious taonga for The KEECT.

Charmian, we wanted to acknowledge the huge contribution that you have made to The KEECT and we want assure you that we will work to protect and extend the legacy that you have created. Thank you for your time, passion and skills and we wish you a long and happy retirement. Please accept a small token of appreciation – a bouquet of flowers.

To all our awardees, once again congratulations. We look forward to hearing from you all in the future about your wonderful achievements and the difference which education has made in your lives.