UC Alumni Wellington Chapter Event

Join us on Tuesday 27 October at our upcoming Wellington Alumni Chapter event with guest speaker Rosemary Banks.

From Canterbury University to the global stage: A life in diplomacy and a world in transition

Former diplomat and ambassador to the United States Rosemary Banks will lead a discussion on two topical questions; the role of a university in the age of artificial intelligence and New Zealand's place in a changing and more dangerous world.

Our speaker: Rosemary Banks

Rosemary Banks is currently Director of the Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships Pacific Diplomatic Training Programme and is a former New Zealand Ambassador to the United States (2018–2022 and 2024–2025).

Her 40-plus-year career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade included eight overseas assignments. She served as Ambassador to France and Portugal and Permanent Representative to the OECD (2010–2014), Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2005–2009), and Deputy Chief of Mission in Canberra and Honiara. Prior to her 2018 appointment to the United States, Rosemary was a Crown negotiator for the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process.

A University of Canterbury alumna, Rosemary holds a Master of Arts in Russian with First Class Honours and an Honorary Doctorate from UC, as well as a Master of Science from the London School of Economics.

Guests are welcome; please include them in your registration.