Cate Prestidge
Principal Academic Staff Member
Programme Coordinator Communication, Public Relations, Journalism
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What do you enjoy about teaching/your job?
I have a passion for people, excellence, and ideas, and I feel education has endless potential for both teachers and students. Relationships are a strength, and I am excited about creating connections and learning opportunities beyond the classroom. After 8.5 years as a Team Manager, I’m enjoying working more directly with students on creative education goals, projects, and research.
What do you love about your area?
Communication is a dynamic and creative field, and I love the way our degree responds to these contexts to give students genuine multi-media storytelling skills which complement sound writing, communication theory, and contextual knowledge. We are educating creative storytellers for the new world of marketing and media communications to produce engaging content underpinned by research and strategy to reach their audiences effectively.
Tell us about your experience in the industry
I’ve had a series of careers in education and media; as a secondary English, theatre and media studies teacher, I worked for Rural Press as a writer, columnist, and in advertising, as a theatre reviewer, a communication tutor, a Stage Challenge judge and events MC. I am the external degree monitor for the NZ Broadcasting School and a breakfast host on FreeFM. Recently I spent a year as an education evaluator in the public service.
What keeps you busy outside of Media Arts?
Life outside of work centres around family, friends, and wrangling a big gully garden. We are renovating a 1970’s modernist house which is a cool challenge, and in between, I enjoy on-air work with Free FM 89.0, a couple of sociable book clubs, art classes, and reviewing theatre.