Damon Salesa | |
---|---|
Toeolesulusulu Ieremia Salesa | |
Born | Damon Ieremia Salesa 30 December 1972 |
Spouse | Jenny Salesa |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Oriel College, Oxford |
Theses | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Pacific History |
Institutions | University of Michigan University of Auckland Auckland University of Technology |
Damon Ieremia Salesa (born 30 December 1972) is a New Zealand academic. Of Samoan descent,he is the first Pacific person to hold the position of vice-chancellor at a New Zealand university. [1]
Raised in Glen Innes,Salesa attended Selwyn College and then the University of Auckland. [2] He graduated in 1997 with a master's of arts and the title of his thesis was "Troublesome half-castes" :tales of a Samoan borderland. [3] [4] Salesa was the first Rhodes Scholar of Pacific descent,obtaining his PhD from the University of Oxford. [5] [6] The title of his doctoral thesis was Race mixing:a Victorian problem in Britain and New Zealand,1830s–1870. [7]
He was an associate professor of history at the University of Michigan, [6] before returning to Auckland where he has been co-head of Te Wānanga o Waipapa (School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies) and pro vice-chancellor (Pacific) at the University of Auckland. [8] [3]
Salesa is a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. [9]
In 2017,Salesa attracted significant press both with claims that Auckland has "residential segregation", [10] [11] and that Pacific Island sports stars are denied governance roles. [12] [13] [14]
In November 2021,Salesa was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Auckland University of Technology (AUT). [3] [6] In late October 2022,Salesa confirmed that AUT was proceeding with plans to make 250 full-time staff including 170 academic staff redundant. In justifying the redundancies,Salesa cited rising salary costs,declining government funding,and a projected decline in the number of student enrollments for 2023. [15] In response,the Tertiary Education Union announced that it would take legal action against AUT in an attempt to halt the 170 academic staff redundancies. [16] In early January 2023,the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ruled that AUT had violated its collective employment agreement with academic staff and ordered the University to rescind the 170 severance notices it had issued in December 2022. [17]
In 2021,Salesa was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi,in recognition of "his outstanding interdisciplinary contribution to Pacific Studies". [9]
Salesa is married to Jenny Salesa,a lawyer and member of the New Zealand parliament for the Labour Party. [18] [1] They have two children. [1]
Auckland University of Technology is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college was granted university status. AUT is New Zealand's third largest university in terms of total student enrolment, with approximately 29,100 students enrolled across three campuses in Auckland. It has five faculties, and an additional three specialist locations: AUT Millennium, Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory and AUT Centre for Refugee Education.
Namulauulu Alama Ieremia is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former international player for Western Samoa and New Zealand.
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