Pacific women honoured for contribution to education and development

Two Pacific women who both faced challenges transitioning to university from school, have been recognised for services to education in the New Year Honours 2024.

Dr Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga and Professor Yvonne Jasmine Te Ruki Rangi o Tangaroa both credit family support and a dose of self-belief for helping get them over the initial hurdle of entering tertiary education, and now they're paving a pathway for others.

Dr Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga, who is of Tahitian and Chinese descent, is a distinguished Pacific academic who has been contributing to tertiary education for over 25 years and becomes an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

She admits she wasn’t really “visible” at college in Wellington and was probably considered the least likely to go on to university or to achieve a PhD.

Dr Chu-Fuluifaga still remembers the day the careers counsellor suggested she could become a secretary but that wasn’t the pathway for an “independent free-flow thinker” who wanted to see what the world had to offer.

“My mum, who was a cleaner, she saved enough money for my first year of fees, prior to getting into university. So I knew I had a goal and my purpose was to cram-study my seventh form year.”

She got into university, determined to work hard, seize every opportunity presented to her which eventually led to being offered a tutor role after completing her undergraduate degree.

Since then Dr Chu-Fuluifaga has actively supported other Pacific students to come through the system.

She has held various roles with Victoria University of Wellington since 2003, where she developed the Pacific education leadership cluster in 2005 with five students, growing it to more than 200 students in 2020.

Dr Chu-Fuluifaga was the Bachelor of Arts (BA) Programme Director of Education between 2009 and 2011, serving on the BA review panel. She has helped introduce a range of outreach activities, extending pastoral care in the wider Wellington region to encourage more Pacific and Māori students to enrol at the university.

She has designed cultural training and education programmes for a wide range of professionals including lawyers, judges, midwives, doctors and teachers. In 2000 she founded the mentoring programme for the Humanities and Commerce departments and has been providing leadership training for Pacific students at Victoria University of Wellington.

Dr Chu-Fuluifaga has also been involved as a volunteer in the Graeme Dingle Foundation since 2016 and has led research projects for Ako Aotearoa and the Ministry of Education.

Professor Yvonne Jasmine Te Ruki Rangi o Tangaroa also grew up in Wellington and cites going to university as being a highlight, career achievement.

“I think the biggest one is the fact that I was born in the Cook Islands, but I did all of my schooling in Porirua and so that was huge really. And thanks very much to my parents for just pushing me on from that one,” she says.

“There weren't many of us, maybe seven in the 7th form from Porirua College. So going on to Victoria University, there was only me from my college. So that was a struggle.”

A struggle she overcame through perseverance and family support as Professor Underhill is a Pacific development geographer, undertaking research and teaching Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, and was Director of Development Studies from 2007 to 2014.

She becomes a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to tertiary education and Pacific development.

Professor Underhill follows in her mother’s footsteps, Jasmine Underhill who was awarded the same honour in 2003. Jasmine served as deputy mayor of Porirua City from 1989–2001, the first Pacific woman to be elected a deputy mayor in New Zealand. Following her passing in 2005, the Porirua City Council named the Jasmine Underhill Reserve on Aotea Drive in her honour.

Professor Underhill served as Deputy Chair of the Inaugural Pacific Performance Based Review Fund (PBRF) Panel from 2015 to 2018, and was appointed inaugural Deputy Moderator (Pacific) for PBRF 2026.

Since 2016 she has led the establishment of ‘Tok Save’, the Pacific Gender Research Portal Reference Group, initially with the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University and now with SPC (The Pacific Community).

She served as Co-Chair of the Advisory Research Group for Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development between 2017 and 2019.

Since 2020 she has contributed to the establishment of the Pacific Feminist Fund, an innovative investment and grant-making initiative to address gender inequality in the Pacific. Professor Underhill has contributed to the establishment of Oxfam in the Pacific since 2015.

Professor Underhill is grateful to the many people who have supported her, including extended family and colleagues, but she has a special place for a brother who passed away some years ago at the age of 20.

“That was tragic for the whole family but the fact that his life was cut so short was always a motivator for me.

“When things got tough, it's just like, ’well, he didn't have those opportunities’, so I pushed a little harder - just get around the corner, take another step. I guess that's all I tried to do.”

A Samoan academic who has contributed to the New Zealand academic and wider Pacific research and evaluation community since 1994, Dr Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni of Auckland, was also named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education in the New Year Honours 2024.