Renowned academic still works for change

Dr Maaka's research was geared toward bringing about positive change for M ori.

Setting out to become an academic was never the intention of Roger Maaka, who has just been named EIT's first Emeritus Professor.

He says he really is still just that same boy from Takapau.

Reaching emeritus status in the academic world is only reserved for the few, it is a rank that recognises distinguished academic service in a chosen field and is awarded on retirement.

"Yes, it is an honour to be recognised because they don't have to do it," says Dr Maaka.

Born and raised in the tiny settlement of Takapau, population approximately 500, he felt the world was his oyster growing up although he was just another local lad.

But it was the strong Maori women in his life that steered him towards education - his grandmother, who laid the foundation, and his mother.

My mother was very education orientated, my sister and I were encouraged to go and get an education, I rebelled against it and joined the Army

He ended up making a career in the military and spent 20 years in the New Zealand Army. Seven of those years were spent in the most elite combat unit of the New Zealand Defence Force, the Special Air Service (SAS).

Life after the army lead him to enrol at Canterbury University at the age of 43.

"I thought I was lucky to get a BA," he says with a smile.

But it is there that his passion for the Maori language and genealogy really began to take flight.

He had caught the bug and pretty soon was immersed in Maori academia.

Since then his extensive research has led him to be published on subjects ranging from Treaty settlements to indigenous issues and everything in between.

All his research was geared toward bringing about positive change not only for Maori but for indigenous peoples around the globe.

After living in Canada he came back to New Zealand in 2009 and was made Dean of EIT's faculty of Maori Studies, Te Uranga Waka.

EIT chief executive Chris Collins said Professor Maaka's academic excellence was well-recognised by his peers and he continued to be active within his field of research in local, national and international forums.

Though he does value what he has learned from various education institutions, he often says "in quite a genuine way, my major education was the university of life."

-Dr Roger Maaka is a Professor of Maori and Indigenous Studies at the Eastern Institute of Technology.