Draft:Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga

Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga is a distinguished Pacific academic of Samoan, Tahitian and Chinese heritage. In 2024, Chu-Fuluifaga was been named as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her contribution to tertiary education for 25 years. It is important to note that Chu-Fuluifaga was also a nominee in the Education section for the 2023 Wellingtonian of the Year.

As a distinguished lecturer and scholar based in Wellington, New Zealand, Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga is deeply invested in research areas such as human development, mentoring, cultural change, identity, and leadership within Pasifika and Indigenous communities. In 2000, she founded the highly successful mentoring program for Humanities and Commerce at Victoria University of Wellington. Chu-Fuluifaga developed the Pacific education leadership cluster at Victoria University with just five students, today, there are more than 200 and she claims it has been inspiring to see how far the Pacific community has come. For over 20 years, Chu-Fuluifaga has shown dedication to providing vital leadership training to Pasifika students and staff in tertiary education. Her expertise and reputation have showcased the opportunity to represent her knowledge sphere at national, regional, and international forums, speaking on leadership development for emerging Pasifika leaders.

Cherie Chu-Fuluifanga has created and developed leadership programs for university students and communities throughout the Pasifika community of Aotearoa New Zealand. Additionally, she has designed cultural training and educational programs for a wide range of professionals such as doctors, midwives, teachers, educators, youth workers, social workers, judges, lawyers, optometrists, and students. As a highly esteemed Phd and Masters supervisor, Cherie is widely known and appreciated by students and academics for her exceptional knowledge and empathetic approaches to the community around her. Chu-Fuluifaga's transformative research approach not only inspires the students around her, but also contributes greatly to advocate and support Pasifika voices to be seen, heard, and valued within the context of Aotearoa.

Research contributions
Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga has also led multiple research programs for well-known organisation in New Zealand such as:


 * Ako Aotearoa
 * New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER)
 * New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)
 * Ministry of Education
 * Department of Internal Affairs
 * Ministry of Justice

Academic and community involvement
For Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga, operating as a Pacific Scholar and academic relies on the ongoing development of relationships and networks with members of the Pacific communities in New Zealand. As a Pacific academic, Chu-Fuluifaga's leadership is warranted in many external contexts, outside of the university sphere. Her work has been evident in government and tertiary reports, as well as research transformational pedagogies. Chu-Fuluifaga is often invited to speak and represent the Pacific people in Pacific-based forums about her work with Pacific learners in the education system, Pacific communities, and learning in the context of tertiary education. It is important to note that Chu-Fuluifaga regularly engages and immerses herself within the Pacific culture and uses her academic knowledge and connections with organisations to contribute to the wellbeing of the people within the Pacific communities.

Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga claims that her students challenge traditional research methods and approaches by bringing in their own cultural practices and perspectives into academia. Ultimately, this has allowed for a new creative space to be implemented for Pacific knowledge in the academic world, one that is more inclusive and representative of the diverse knowledge the Pacific people hold. Chu-Fuluifaga is confident that Pacific knowledge will continue and thrive, with more individuals from diverse backgrounds joining the journey of pacific studies. Also, Chu-Fuluifaga has warned that any removal of admission pathways for Māori and pacific students proposed by the current National government of New Zealand will lead to a less diverse healthcare workforce and be detrimental for the health outcomes of marginalised populations. Instead, Chu-Fuluifaga wants education pathways for this group to be guaranteed and secure in the future as she stated in an interview "This should be achieved by reducing reliance on the colonial system and embracing systems that they have established".

Selected works
Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga has published several journal and some of these are articles titled:


 * Pursuing Educational Partnership in Diasporic Contexts: Teachers Responding to Pacific Voice in Their Work
 * Teachers Responding to Pacific Community Voice: Supporting Relationships Through an Ecological Research Initiative
 * Decolonizing Methodologies: A Pacific Island Lens
 * Minority Learners, Diversity, and Educational Outcomes: The Case of Aotearoa, New Zealand
 * From Good to Great: The 10 Habits of phenomenal Educators for Pacific Learners in Aotearoa New Zealand
 * An Appreciative Circling Approach to Promoting Doctoral Wellbeing and Growth
 * Shape-shifting Connections, Relationships and Pacific Education in the Uncharted Waters of a Global Pandemic
 * Navigating the Digital Va-vā: Centring Moana/Pacific Values in Online Tertiary Settings During COVID-19