History of Te Puna Reo Pohewa
Marie Clay Research Centre
1926-2007
HIGHLIGHTS OF MARIE CLAY'S CAREER
1945
Teaching training at Wellington College of Education
1946
Bachelor of Arts
1948
Master of Arts with a senior scholarship in Education
1950
Fulbright Scholarship to study developmental and clinical child psychology at the University of Minnesota
1966
Doctoral thesis on emergent reading behaviour
1975
First woman professor at the University of Auckland
1978
The International Citation of Merit at the International Reading Association (IRA) World Congress on Reading
1979
The David H. Russell Award from the National Council of Teachers of English for distinguished research
1982
Inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame
1983
The Mackie Medal in Education from the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
1992-1993
First non-North American to be elected president of the IRA
1992
The McKenzie Award from New Zealand Association for Research in Education
1993
The Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Education
1995
Recipient of the prestigious William S. Gray Citation of Merit
2003
Distinguished Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award from Literacy Research Association (formerly National Reading Conference)
“Marie Clay died on 13 April 2007 in Auckland, aged 81. Obituaries appeared around the world, and past students and educationalists contributed to the book Memories of Marie (2009, compiled by Jenny Clay). They described her as ‘tough’, ‘nurturing’ and ‘protective’. Most of all, Marie was an advocate for the children who now learnt to read because of her ‘stirring the waters’ of early and remedial literacy. In 2016 the University of Auckland launched a research centre to continue her work.” (May, 2018)
Source: Helen May. ‘Clay, Marie Mildred’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2018. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6c3/clay-marie-mildred.
2016
FOUNDING OF
THE MARIE CLAY RESEARCH CENTRE
2018
Growing a Networked Research Community around Children and Families of Aotearoa New Zealand
- MCRC was awarded $79,450 from Royal Society Catalyst Seed Grant.
2019
Connecting Families and Teachers of Young Children through Stories
MCRC was granted $49,399 from Auckland Airport Community trust to research on connecting families and teachers of young children through stories.
2020
- Phase II
- MCRC was awarded a second grant worth of $24,833 for Phase II of the project.
2021
Understand Me: Crafting Selves and Worlds in Collective Storied Conversations with Tamariki/Children, Whānau/Families, and Kaiako/Teachers
- MCRC received funding through 2023 to expand the research from the earlier two phases.
2023
A Historical Study of Literacy Legacy Leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand (1962-1989)
Seed funding originally provided by a Faculty Research Development Fund Grant