Iwi entered higher education through clearing and left a “non-positive” graduate outcome. She has since learned that her ‘failures’ are successes in progress. On leaving university, she worked in financial services in the higher education sector for 10 years, progressing to senior accountant with responsibility for the professional development of graduate trainees. She transitioned into academia in 2010, to inspire and support students studying accounting at university and to encourage their successful transition as graduates prepared to thrive at the start of their careers.
Iwi’s lived experience informs her teaching praxis. She focuses on applying effective teaching techniques to enhance students’ understanding of complex accounting topics, whilst effectively supporting their diverse learning needs. Her scholarship of teaching and learning provided the expertise and knowledge to apply these principles to her practice.
Enhancing student outcomes through innovative practice has been a cornerstone of her academic activism. Iwi applies her expertise, knowledge and academic platform to engage in social issues and disrupt inequitable social structures and systems. She also facilitates successful Ubuntu listening circles to nurture and develop anti-colonial praxis and thinking in education leaders.
Iwi’s ability to ‘get things done,’ is grounded in her leadership capability to mobilise collective action through collaboration and community, reflecting her Ubuntu values (‘I am, because we are’).
She has delivered sustained educational excellence in higher education for 15 years. She has an established track record for successfully leading innovative, impactful strategic projects that enhance student opportunity, experience and outcomes. Her expertise is in developing and leading innovative inclusive education that addresses the needs of marginalised and minoritised students and in doing so, improves educational outcomes and experiences for all.
