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Damon Salesa

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Damon Salesa
FRSNZ
Toeolesulusulu Ieremia Salesa
3rd Vice-Chancellor of Auckland University of Technology
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 April 2022
ChancellorRob Campbell
Preceded byDerek McCormack
Personal details
Born
Damon Ieremia Salesa

(1972-12-30) 30 December 1972 (age 51)
SpouseJenny Salesa
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Auckland (MA)
Oriel College, Oxford (PhD)
Theses
Academic work
DisciplinePacific History
InstitutionsUniversity 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]

Education

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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]

Academic career

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He was an associate professor of history at the University of Michigan,[6] before returning to Auckland where he was 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]

In 2017, Salesa attracted significant press both with claims that Auckland has "residential segregation",[9][10] and that Pacific Island sports stars are denied governance roles.[11][12][13]

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.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16]

Awards

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In 2021, Salesa was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, in recognition of "his outstanding interdisciplinary contribution to Pacific Studies".[17]

He won the General non-fiction award at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for An Indigenous Ocean.[18]

In 2023, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. [19]

Personal life

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Salesa is married to Jenny Salesa, a lawyer and member of the New Zealand parliament for the Labour Party.[20][1] They have two children.[1]

Selected works

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  • Racial Crossings: Race, Intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire. 2012. ISBN 978-0-19-960415-9.[21][22][23][24] (Won the Ernest Scott Prize for History.[25][26])
  • Island time : New Zealand's Pacific futures. 2017. ISBN 978-1-98-853353-7
  • An Indigenous Ocean: Pacific essays. 2023. ISBN 978-1-99-1033-60-4

References

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  1. ^ a b c Tokalau, Torika (26 November 2021). "First Pasifika vice-chancellor Dr Damon Salesa on the decisions that define you". Stuff. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Damon Salesa – The University of Auckland". Auckland.ac.nz. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Damon Salesa confirmed as new Vice-Chancellor of AUT - The University of Auckland". www.auckland.ac.nz. 15 November 2021. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  4. ^ Salesa, Damon Ieremia (1997), "Troublesome half-castes" : tales of a Samoan borderland (Master's thesis), ResearchSpace@Auckland, hdl:2292/10510, Wikidata Q111963252
  5. ^ "Damon Salesa – Samoans – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. 17 March 2001. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  6. ^ a b c "AUT Council Appoints Dr Damon Salesa Next Vice-Chancellor". Scoop. 15 November 2021. Archived from the original on 28 November 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  7. ^ Salesa, Damon (1997). "Troublesome half-castes" : tales of a Samoan borderland (Masters thesis). ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland. hdl:2292/10510.
  8. ^ "Mr Damon Salesa". The University of Auckland. doi:10.1002/9781118305492.ch26. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  9. ^ "Auckland: city of cultural segregation". Newsroom.co.nz. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Auckland: A city of cultural segregation". Stuff.co.nz. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Rugby could become 'weaker code' among Pacific players if league opens up eligibility". Stuff.co.nz. 10 December 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  12. ^ "League: Polynesian stars just 'labourers'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  13. ^ "Pacific support for league could outstrip that for rugby | Radio New Zealand News". Radionz.co.nz. 10 December 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  14. ^ Ham, Katie (31 October 2022). "Number of redundancies expected at AUT increases to 250, 9% more than forecast". Stuff. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  15. ^ "TEU takes legal action against AUT over 170 job cut". The New Zealand Herald. 24 November 2022. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  16. ^ Ruru, Karanama (5 January 2023). "Employment court orders Auckland University of Technology to scrap redundancies". Stuff. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Researchers and scholars elected to Academy". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  18. ^ "Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2024 Winners' Announcement". Scoop News. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  19. ^ "Honorary Fellowships for Damon Ieremia Salesa, Anna Sapir Abulafia and Howard Michael Robinson". Oriel College. 8 February 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  20. ^ "Jenny Salesa to stand for Labour in Manukau East". Pacific Guardians. 24 February 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  21. ^ Ghosh, Durba (1 January 2013). "Racial Crossings: Race, Intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire, by Damon Ieremia Salesa". Victorian Studies. 55 (2): 363–365. doi:10.2979/victorianstudies.55.2.363. JSTOR 10.2979/victorianstudies.55.2.363.
  22. ^ "H-Net Reviews". H-net.org. February 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  23. ^ Bueltmann, T. (2013). "Racial Crossings: Race, Intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire, by Damon Ieremia Salesa". The English Historical Review. 128 (532): 705. doi:10.1093/ehr/cet061.
  24. ^ Carter, Sarah (25 February 2014). "Racial Crossings: Race, intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire by Damon Ieremia Salesa (review)". Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History. 14. doi:10.1353/cch.2013.0015. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  25. ^ "Damon Ieremia Salesa wins $12000 Ernest Scott Prize for History. | Articulation". Articulation.arts.unimelb.edu.au. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  26. ^ "Damon Salesa wins elite award". Spasifikmag.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
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