Otago academic Dr Ruth Toumu'a remembered for her wisdom and grace

Wellington academic Dr Ruth Toumu'a who passed away suddenly on 15 May at the age of 46 is remembered with great fondness by staff and students across the University for her wisdom and expertise, and her humility and grace.

Ruth had a Master of Applied Linguistics with Distinction, a PhD in Applied Linguistics and a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

She had worked for the University as a Teaching Fellow in the Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC) since 2019, and as a Lecturer since 2023. She was appointed to the part-time role of Associate Dean (Pacific) on the Wellington campus this year.

Through her work providing specialist coaching and support for the development of academic skills and literacy, Ruth touched many people across the University, from first-year students, to PhD candidates, to teaching staff.

In a video Ruth made as part of the Digital Storytelling Asia-Pacific Project, Tonga, three years ago,  she talked about her background and how she saw herself as a ‘global gypsy’.

With her mother Doris a Pākehā New Zealander from a farming valley near Nelson, her father a highlander from Papua New Guinea, and her husband Tu'ikolongahau (Tu'i), from the Kingdom of Tonga, she had a special understanding of the diversity of the Pacific. Their two sons, Bryan and Joshua, were a great source of pride to her, and, she felt, a reflection of the nature of Pacific peoples today.

Associate Professor Dianne Sika-Paotonu, Associate Dean (Pacific) for the Division of Health Sciences, says Ruth was highly skilled and had more than 15 years’ experience in tertiary education contexts in academic skills development, research and executive roles in Aotearoa and the Pacific region.

“She fostered successful independent learners at all levels, from first year students through to PhD candidates, with a focus on supporting the retention and success of those from underrepresented backgrounds and those for whom English was an additional language.”

Dianne says she was delighted Ruth had been appointed to take up the role of Associate Dean (Pacific) for the Wellington campus.

“Not only was she a personal friend, but I knew also that her knowledge base, expertise and experience, combined with her collegiality and compassion, would be incredibly helpful and beneficial for everyone, including staff and students.

“We talked often and she would always share news about her family. She was immensely proud of her sons and their accomplishments and also of her husband Tu'i and mother Doris.

“Without saying very much at all, Ruth was able to make people feel comfortable and valued, and she was a great listener. She was also compassionate with people and would make time to connect, even if just for a short while.

“We were so very fortunate to have had the privilege and honour of working alongside her.”

Ruth’s mentor, former Head of the HEDC, Professor Ben Daniel, says the two worked closely together on developing culturally-responsive teaching and learning programmes, a project which was very close to her heart.

“The project was very successful because of Ruth’s deep knowledge and selfless dedication to advancing culturally-responsive teaching and learning at Otago.

“Another research project and platform we were working on was about connecting indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge systems and research methods.

“Our goal was to bring these two together to interface with one another and so Ruth would joke and say she is ‘the interface’ - because she lived it.

“Ruth was deeply respected among her colleagues in the HEDC, and appreciated for her kindness and warmth.”

He remembers Ruth as a natural-born teacher.

“She was an excellent teacher, and she was very wise, coming up with her own metaphors and different ways of explaining complex concepts. Her untimely departure has left a void that cannot be filled. She will always be remembered among her HEDC colleagues and across Otago.”

In Wellington, Ruth worked closely with Deputy Health Sciences Librarian and Reference Librarian Donna Tietjens and Student Counsellor Dr Denise Steers to support and mentor undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The three formed a tight-knit group, often referring students to each other for specialist assistance.
Donna remembers Ruth describing herself as a ‘critical friend’ to her students, and a sounding board for them as they embarked on their studies.

“If a student was struggling with a particular skill set, or learning issue, then meeting Ruth always made them feel better about themselves and their studies.

“She would never leave a student feeling overwhelmed with what they had to do, she always wanted students to feel that there was a pathway. She talked about normalising study skill support so that students felt OK about asking for help.

“Ruth worked in a very collaborative, holistic way. If she referred students to me, she always wrote beautiful emails introducing the student and outlining what help they needed.

“So many students have said they were able to complete their studies because of Ruth and have told me how much she meant to them. She was so wise and insightful. I learnt so much from working with her. She was a wonderful colleague and friend.”

Denise says Ruth was one of those rare people who had both enormous intellect and exceptional skills in connecting and relating with people.

“Ruth was a very, very clever woman across many subjects and areas, not just in her learning advisory role. She had enormous capacity intellectually but alongside that she had exceptional relational skills and that was her super-power.”

Denise says while it feels quite intense to use the word ‘love’, she thinks when students first met with Ruth, they instantly loved her.

“She was very good at just expressing warmth and care, as well as having to do the tough stuff, of saying to students, ‘well actually you need to rewrite this’. She did it in a way that was coated with such warmth and care that students could hear it. And she would leave them with a pathway to achieve a rewrite.”

Distance student Mino Cleverley, who is working on a PhD on climate change and indigenous responses in Samoa through the Centre for Sustainability, remembers Ruth using an indigenous Pacific/Oceanic metaphor to illustrate the process for writing up his research when they first met.

“She pulled off a string of beads she had on the wall and explained to me that each bead is a gem of knowledge that you choose and purposefully string together to make the necklace. That is how she explained the process to me.

“Ruth was more than just one of my academic supervisors, she was a friend, a critical PhD friend in the true sense. She went above and beyond.”

Mino plans to finish his PhD early next year and will dedicate it to Ruth.

For Kristy Walker, who works as the Tutorials and Academic Pastoral Support Co-ordinator in the Pacific Islands Centre, Ruth was a colleague, a life mentor, and more recently, her supervisor for her Master of Indigenous Studies course.

“She was just such a warm person, she gave so much of herself. She would sit and listen and observe and take in everything and then she would come out with this carefully curated heart-felt, genuine response. She always asked me questions around our interests in Pacific education and how we can provide better support and better access and success, and how we can increase student retention. She would always ask me these really difficult questions and really make me think.

“She was one of my biggest motivators for my master’s and she still is now, and I know that we have to carry on Ruth’s legacy of her drive and passion for supporting students and researching around Pacific education and thinking harder and asking those deeper questions and digging deep to get those answers as to how we can better Pacific education and Pacific studies.”

Ruth had a very strong interest in Pacific indigenous research methodologies and had been hoping to develop a resource for staff and students researching in the Pacific to ensure they conducted their research with sensitivity and respect.

She talked about her love for research and for developing a Pasifika way of researching at Te Anga Mua Whānau Ora Research Hui in Wellington in 2012, using the metaphor of her father’s multi-pronged hair comb to explain the concepts around it.

Denise remembers Ruth’s creative use of analogies in her teaching as ‘Ruthisms’.

“She had her own way, which was incredibly unique. She was just one in a million, one of those people you feel very lucky and privileged to have been in their orbit.”

Ruth was laid to rest on Wednesday, 29 May after a private service. She was buried by husband Tu'i and sons Bryan and Joshua in a beautiful spot she loved, nestled between the hills near her family home in Nelson, beside a majestic tree in an area she had played in when she was little.