At the NZSA 2003 Conference dinner, David Vere-Jones, Alastair Scott and George Seber were inducted as life members of the NZSA. David and Alastair were present to receive their awards, with characteristic humility. As Professors at leading New Zealand Universities, all three have made a huge contribution towards fostering the next generation of statisticians, and have drawn visiting academics, practitioners and students to New Zealand, as well as making major contributions of published work in the international statistical community. In presenting the awards, Steve Haslett noted that they were very much overdue, as no life members had been appointed since 1984.

David Vere-Jones is Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the School of Mathematical and Computing Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington. During the course of his long and distinguished career, he has made outstanding and fundamental research contributions in probability, statistics and the mathematical sciences. His contributions are characterised by their clarity, depth and insight, and have typically led to important new research developments. His research in Markov chain and point process theory have led to his path-breaking work on earthquake modeling which is at the forefront of current international research in the area. He has also made important and far-reaching contributions to the directions of statistical and mathematical education both in New Zealand and internationally. The hallmarks are clarity of vision, strong sense of purpose, and a concern that the local mathematical community realizes its proper potential. David served as President of NZSA 1981-83, and takes an ongoing and active interest in statistical education. He has received numerous international awards and has published three books and around 100 academic papers. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand since 1982. A symposium was held in his honour at Victoria University in April 2001, and he was presented with the Festschrift "Probability, Statistics and Seismology" (J. Appl. Probab. Special Volume 38A (2001)).

George Seber is Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Department of Statistics, University of Auckland. He has written prolifically: ten books, many of which have gone to several editions, and numerous research papers. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Since he began his PhD in Statistics at Manchester University he has been extensively involved with mathematical and statistical consulting. Over the last 30 years at Auckland he has helped build the Statistics section of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and taken it through to the formation of a separate Department of Statistics. He has had a longstanding interest in the secondary school mathematics and statistics syllabuses. However, despite the breadth of his contribution from linear models, multivariate statistics, linear regression, non-linear models, to adaptive sampling, he is perhaps still best known internationally for his research on the estimation of animal abundance. George has contributed widely to the New Zealand statistical community and to NZSA.

Professor Alastair Scott (left above) has been at the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland since 1972. Previously he had graduated PhD from the University of Chicago, and taught at the London School of Economics. Before and since his return he has written seminal papers on the links between time series and sample surveys, particularly in relation to improved estimators for repeated sample surveys, and on the analysis of survey data. More recently his interest has focused on the design and analysis of retrospective studies, extending classical results for case control studies. Alastair has served on the Executive Committee of NZSA and was President for 1989-90. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

The 2003 Campbell Award was made to Harold Henderson, a statistician at AgResearch, Ruakura Agricultural Centre in Hamilton. Harold is a well known personality in NZSA – usually seen at the working end of his camera during Association functions. He has a BSc with First Class Honours from Massey University, and a PhD in Biometry, Cornell University, USA with Dr S R Searle. He has worked as Statistician at what is now AgResearch, at Ruakura Agricultural Centre since 1979 (over the period of several restructurings). He retains strong links with Waikato University through the Waikato Centre for Applied Statistics and the Department of Statistics. He has received a range of awards including New Zealand National Research Advisory Council Post-graduate Fellowship, Prince and Princess of Wales Science Award from the RSNZ, and has recently been the Bevan Werry Memorial Speaker at NZ Association of Maths Teachers.

It is not however just the awards and academic qualifications which are the reason that Harold has received the Campbell Award. Harold has been a stalwart in the Association as its President 1993-5, Joint Editor of Newsletter 1989-1993, and he continues a very active role within the Executive both as a member and as Membership Secretary. Harold was also General-Secretary for the joint International Biometric Society/NZSA Conference held in Hamilton in 1992.

All this he has carried out willingly and with wonderful spirit. These academic, service and personal aspects taken together are the basis for his Campbell Award.

At the recent AGM a proposal that the Association adopts the principle of electing members "of established reputation who have made outstanding contributions in some aspect of statistical work" as Fellows of the NZSA was presented. After much discussion the motion was modified and the following amended version was agreed to: "That this AGM

In bringing forward the original proposal I was aware that other statistical bodies recognise the achievements and contributions of their members by means of Fellowships, e.g. ASA and IMS. Each year, ASA members nominate their peers as fellows to recognize "members of established reputation who have made outstanding contributions in some aspect of statistical work". With IMS, candidates "shall have demonstrated distinction in research in statistics or probability, by publication of independent work of merit", although they may waive this qualification in the case of a candidate of "well-established leadership" whose contributions to the field of statistics or probability other than original research shall be judged of equal value; or "whose work has contributed greatly to the utility of and the appreciation of these areas". The proposal that was brought forward was to not necessarily regard academic research contributions as a sole criterion for election, but to consider other more general criteria, along the lines of the ASA procedure.

Other NZ societies that honour their members by means of Fellowships include the NZ Mathematical Soc, NZ Computer Society, NZ Inst of Chemistry, NZ Inst of Physics, InternetNZ, NZ Soc of Horticultural Sci, The NZ Inst of Agricultural Sci, Inst of Professional Engineers NZ, Human Resources Inst of NZ, NZ Psychological Soc, Inst of Chartered Accountants, and NZ Inst of Food Sci and Technology.

During the discussion at the AGM it was suggested that the term "Fellow" was sexist. Female fellows have been elected to many of the aforementioned NZ societies in recognition of their "outstanding and significant contributions" and personally I am not aware of any concern outside of NZSA over the use of this well-established terminology.

I would like to raise some discussion on this issue and attempt to get the opinion of members at large as to how best to recognise the efforts and achievements of the Association’s members. If not through Fellowships, then what other mechanism should the Association consider? Once we have some alternatives then one way to progress the matter may be to conduct a poll of members.

I was interested to read the suggestion that the word fellow was sexist. I hadn't thought myself that it referred to one sex only - it seems it can mean a boy or man (along with plenty of other non-sexist meanings) and the derivation has no obvious sexist connotation - see below from the online Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Pronunciation: 'fe-(")lO, -l&(-w)
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English felawe, from Old English fEolaga, from Old Norse fElagi, from fElag partnership, from fE cattle, money + lag act of laying
Date: before 12th century
1 : COMRADE, ASSOCIATE
2 a : an equal in rank, power, or character : PEER b : one of a pair : MATE
3 : a member of a group having common characteristics; specifically : a member of an incorporated literary or scientific society
4 a obsolete : a person of one of the lower social classes b : a worthless man or boy c : MAN, BOY d : BOYFRIEND, BEAU
5 : an incorporated member of a college or collegiate foundation especially in a British university
6 : a person appointed to a position granting a stipend and allowing for advanced study or research

A brief citation
For exemplary contributions over an extended period to the public understanding of the role and importance that the Mathematical and Information Sciences play in all spheres of the community including business and industry.
 

Professor Hunter served on the Royal Society of New Zealand Interim Council in 1997 and then was elected for two terms, 1998-2000 and 2000-2002 on the Council while representing the Mathematical and Information Sciences Electoral College. During this time as Chair of the RSNZ Committee on Mathematical and Information Sciences (1997-2002) he chaired (1997-98) a major review on the state of the Mathematical Sciences in New Zealand. The review involved presentations to the foresight exercise; surveys of universities, polytechnics, research organizations, professional associations and business and industry user groups; workshops throughout the country in five locations; the production of a major report for the Ministry of Research Science and Technology; and the dissemination of the results through a variety of presentations and lectures. In his capacity as Chair of the RSNZ Committee on Mathematical and Information Sciences he has also highlighted concerns over the funding of these sciences in the tertiary sector in various submissions and articles.

He served as President of the NZ Statistical Association over the period 1995-97 and was elected a Fellow of the NZ Mathematical Society in 2002 in recognition of his contribution to mathematics and professional standing in the New Zealand mathematical community. He is also a long-standing member of the Operational Research Society of New Zealand.

In addition he was the Founder and Foundation President of the North Shore Branch of RSNZ. In 1999 he represented the RSNZ at the World Conference in Science.

For his professional contributions to the mathematical and information sciences community, he has served as Dean of the Faculty of Information and Mathematical Sciences (1995-97) and Head of the Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences (1998-2001) at Massey University.

We wish to nominate him for his exemplary service and contributions over an extended period to the mathematical and information sciences community in New Zealand.

100 word citation
"Professor Hunter has served the Mathematical and Information Science community in New Zealand over an extended period in numerous roles – Councillor of the RSNZ, Chair of its Committee on Mathematical and Information Sciences, President of the New Zealand Statistical Association, Chair of a committee that reviewed the state of the Mathematical Sciences in New Zealand and produced a major report on the exercise in 1998.

In these activities he has sought to increase public understanding of the role and importance that the mathematical sciences – mathematics, statistics and operations research – play in all spheres of the community including business and industry."