The College is proud to celebrate Adjunct Associate Professor Rosemary du Plessis being made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the recent Queen’s Birthday honours.
The official citation reads:
DU PLESSIS, Adjunct Associate Professor Rosemary Ann
For services to women and education
Adjunct Associate Professor Rosemary du Plessis has contributed to the advancement of women’s rights and education for the past 45 years.
Adjunct Associate Professor du Plessis has held various teaching and research roles at the University of Canterbury since 1974. She is a pioneer of gender studies in New Zealand, teaching some of the first gender studies courses in the country, co-editing important texts on feminist issues and working with others to establish the Feminist Studies programme at the University of Canterbury. She was Commissioner – Social and Human Sciences at the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO for five years and has been a member of the Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Chair of its Social Science Advisory Committee. She was a member of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs Advisory Committee, the National Advisory Committee on the Employment of Women, and a Co-Convenor of the National Council of Women of New Zealand’s Public Issues Standing Committee. She chaired the ‘Who Gets Born’ policy document working group for Tai te Taiao: The Bioethics Council. She has been a National Committee member of the Women’s Studies Association and Board member of the New Horizons for Women Trust. Adjunct Associate Professor Du Plessis has undertaken research into women’s experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes with the NCWNZ Christchurch Branch.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
