Anna has been a part of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences since 2012 and during this time she has been a successful postgraduate supervisor, edited the Journal of New Zealand Studies (boosting its profile nationally and internationally), produced the second edition of her widely used international textbook The Houses of History : A Critical Reader in History and Theory, and has served on the Faculty Research Committee over a number of years. Following her retirement, Anna will remain an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty to focus on the book that has resulted from her Marsden-funded research project, The missing link: Pākeha intergenerational family memory.

“We were very fortunate to have Anna join us from Exeter University and over the almost ten years that she has been at this University, she has made very significant contributions to the work of the Centre and the Faculty as a scholar, supervisor, lecturer, and generous academic colleague,” says Professor Sarah Leggott, Dean of the Wellington Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

At Anna’s retirement function Emeritus Professor Lydia Wevers (former Director of the Stout Research Centre), Dean Broughton (Anna’s PhD Candidate in History), and Pip Oldham (Oral Historian) spoke to Anna’s career, supervision, teaching, and character.

“When Anna joined the staff of the Stout Research Centre, she immediately made a big impression by taking over editing the Journal of New Zealand Studies (JNZS). Anna is an ace editor with a crack eye for typos and arguments that fall apart. She increased both the professionalism and the readership of the JNZS, which is now the leading New Zealand Studies journal at home and in the world,” says Emeritus Professor Lydia Wevers.

Emeritus Professor Richard Hill says: “Anna brought a huge international reputation in the world of oral history to the Stout Research Centre, from where she continued to excel in that and her other areas of research.”

“She has been a warm and engaging colleague at the Stout, and it is no accident that a consistent theme of the speeches at her farewell was her generosity as a colleague, supervisor, and friend,” Emeritus Professor Hill adds. “I’m delighted that Anna has now joined the community of Stout Research Centre adjuncts in her retirement—we expect that she may find, like us, that she’s as busy in retirement as ever as she continues her ambitious research on family memory.”

“Anna has been a terrific colleague,” says Emeritus Professor Wevers. “Her experience and reputation as an oral historian were rewarded with a major Marsden grant on her first attempt. It’s been a delight to have Anna's sharp tongue and sense of humour at the Stout's Thursday lunches. She will be greatly missed but we can expect to see her important project completed and New Zealand history expanded and enriched in the not too distant future.”

We wish Anna all the best for her retirement and look forward to her continuing affiliation with the Faculty and University over the coming years.