Rate My Professor Jenny Te Paa Daniel

Dr. Jenny Te Paa Daniel (Te Rarawa) is Te Māreikura, meaning 'woman visionary,' and serves as an Honorary Fellow at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (Te Ao o Rongomaraeroa), University of Otago. She previously held the position of Interim Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre since 2013, returning in 2018 to guide its bicultural development in alignment with its founding Memorandum of Understanding. A pioneering indigenous scholar, she earned her PhD in 2001 from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, with a dissertation on Race Politics and Theological Education. She also holds a Master's degree in Theology from the University of Auckland (1992) and was the first Māori to receive an academic theology degree from that institution. Her career includes serving as Ahorangi (Dean) of Te Rau Kahikatea at St John's Theological College in Auckland for 18 years (1995–2013), where she was the first indigenous lay woman to lead an Anglican seminary in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Earlier, she taught for five years and from 1995 to 2012, she was Convenor of the global Anglican Peace and Justice Network, leading delegations to conflict zones including Palestine, Sri Lanka, the Great Lakes region (Rwanda, Congo, Burundi), North and South Korea, Kenya, South Africa, and the Pacific.

Dr. Te Paa Daniel has taught students across New Zealand, Australia, the South Pacific, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, the United States, and Asia. She has written extensively on gender and social justice, indigenous rights, theological education, and race politics, contributing to peacebuilding, advocacy, and conflict resolution with a focus on Māori, Moriori, and Pacific perspectives. Her influence extends through public speaking, lecturing, media commentary, preaching, and panel participation on political, human rights, and theological issues. She remains a Trustee for the Centre. Major awards include GTU Alumna of the Year (2010), Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland (2010), and honorary doctorates from Episcopal Divinity School (2003), Virginia Theological Seminary (2008), Church Divinity School of the Pacific (2010), General Theological Seminary (2015), and Berkeley Divinity School at Yale (2020), recognizing her commitment to global peace and justice via theological education and Anglican service.