Distinguished USA professorship to Papua New Guinea writer/scholar

By MALUM NALU

 

The University of Hawaii in the USA has recognised Dr Steven Edmund Winduo’s creative and intellectual contributions to the production of new knowledge and culture in the Asia Pacific region.  

Dr Winduo, a columnist with The National, is the first Papua New Guinean to be awarded the distinguished Arthur Lynn Andrews chair in Pacific and Asian studies.

He is recognised for his consistent creative output and intellectual scholarship in the area of Pacific literature and indigenous knowledge productions.

Dr Winduo will take up the award in Jan 1, 2011.

He will teach a senior honors level course, entitled Studies in Literature and Culture of the Pacific. 

In addition, he will deliver two public lectures on Pacific literature and cultural productions and give a reading of his poetry in conjunction with the department of English.

“The Andrews chair was established by Harriet Cousens Andrews to promote Pacific and Asian studies at the University of Hawaii through the selection of outstanding visiting professors each year,” Dr Winduo said.
”The chair’s name honors Arthur Lynn Andrews (1871-1945

“The Andrews chair is a distinguished professorial chair held at 100% fulltime employment within the School of Pacific and Asian Studies.

“It was set up by a bequest made in honor of Arthur Lynn Andrews, who was the first dean of the University of Hawaii, college of arts and the sciences, in 1920.

“He was later the dean of faculties from 1930 to 1936, when he retired and served as a member of the University of Hawaii board of regents from 1941 to 1943.

“The Arthur Lynn Andrews chair is cycled within the school of Pacific and Asian studies. “Previous Pacific Islanders to receive this award include the famous New Zealand-based Samoan writer Albert Wendt and Sia Figiel, also of Samoa and a Commonwealth writers’ prize winner.”

Dr Winduo is one of PNG’s leading writers and scholar with 20 years of teaching, research, and writing experience with UPNG.

He earned his PhD in English at the University of Minnesota, USA under the Fulbright and MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1998.  

His MA degree in English was earned at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.  

His BA and BA Honours degrees in literature, philosophy, and history were earned at UPNG.

As a PNG writer, Dr Winduo has more international success with his works published, read, cited, and discussed in various publications and universities around the world.

Dr Winduo’s writings and ideas are studied in courses on the literature and cultures of the Pacific Islands at the University of Hawaii, University of Texas, Cornell University, University of New Mexico, University of Auckland, Heidelburg University (Germany), and the University of the South Pacific.

He commands respect as an influential writer and scholar within the South Pacific region.

 His literary scholarship and writings are recognised internationally.

 He has an impressive list of publications.

This year Dr Winduo added three new books to his credits A Rower’s Song, Reframing Indigenous Knowledge, and The Unpainted Mask.

He is working on several more new books he hopes to have published in the upcoming year.

Dr Winduo writes a weekly column as Steven’s Window in The National’s Weekender and blogs as www.stevenswindow.blogspot.com

He held the visiting professor in English at the University of Minnesota between 2007 and 2008.

In 2006, he served as a Macmillan Brown research scholar at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.  

He was also the co-ordinator of Oceania Future Forum for the Japanese Foundation and Waseda Hoshien International University in Tokyo, Japan.

He taught as a guest lecturer on board the Cairns-based Oceanic Discoverer, a tourist ship cruising through the Melanesian Islands of New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and PNG.

Dr Winduo is a founding member and served as the vice-president of the Samoan-based International Council for the Study of Pacific Islands.

Apart from his teaching, Dr Winduo also contributes his vast knowledge and experience to various developmental activities coordinated the Media Council of PNG, Bible Society of PNG, Correctional Services the National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat.

Dr Winduo designed the blueprint for the establishment of Melanesian and Pacific studies (MAPS) and the Melanesian institute of arts and communication (MIAC) in the school of humanities and social sciences at UPNG.

He is pleased with the recognition and award offered to him by international universities, especially in the USA.

“The distinguished Arthur Lynn Andrews professorship is an honour given out to few influential scholars within the Asia Pacific region,” Dr Winduo said.

“For me, this award is special because it is an international honor that raises the bar to another level.

“UPNG has no professorial positions to fill or any award system to recognise outstanding scholarship and academic productivity by this national academic.

“Nonetheless, I am happy with UPNG’s support in releasing me to take up this award at the centre for Pacific studies in the school of Pacific and Asian studies, University of Hawaii, USA.”