Rate My Professor Cheryl Caldwell

Cheryl Caldwell serves as Liaison Officer in the Schools' Liaison Office at the University of Otago, based at the Wellington Liaison Office in the Lambton Centre, Level 5, 117 Lambton Quay, Wellington. As part of the External Engagement division, she is responsible for engaging with secondary schools and career advisers in the regions of Taranaki, Mānawatu/Whanganui, Wairarapa, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson/Tasman, Christchurch, and North Canterbury. Caldwell delivers presentations and information sessions on university enrolment processes, entrance scholarship applications, key dates for career advisers, residential colleges, and aspects of student life at Otago. She collaborates with team members including Kathy Wiltshire, Bec West, and others to conduct school visits, host info evenings, and support recruitment events across these areas. Her contributions are featured in official university resources such as the Guide to Enrolment, key dates documents for career advisers, and newsletters like the Disability Information & Support Newsletter where she appears as part of the liaison team. She also participates in promotional activities, including discussions on residential colleges for first-year students.

Caldwell earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the University of Otago. Her honours essay, "Truby King and Seacliff Asylum 1889-1907," was supervised by Erik Olssen and submitted for the degree. This research details the tenure of Truby King at Seacliff Asylum, describing the innovative regime he inaugurated there. The work was included as a chapter titled "Truby King and Seacliff Asylum, 1889-1907" in the book "Unfortunate Folk: Essays on Mental Health Treatment, 1863-1992," edited by Barbara Brookes and Jane Thomson and published by the University of Otago Press in 2001. The volume covers the history of mental health treatment in Otago institutions from founding years to later periods. Caldwell's chapter has been cited and referenced in multiple scholarly publications on New Zealand's history of asylums, psychiatry, psychology, and mental health practices, including studies on Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, homosexual prisoners, and older people in Otago asylums. These citations underscore the influence of her analysis on the academic discourse surrounding early 20th-century mental health reforms in New Zealand.