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I'm a political scientist.
Early in 2010 I retired from full-time, permanent employment, but – prior to that – my professional life was particularly stable, in that I taught political science for a period of more than 40 years at just two universities. I was employed first by the University of Canterbury (in Christchurch, New Zealand) for a little over eleven years (i.e., from 1 January 1970 until 31 January 1980), and I then taught at the Victoria University of Wellington for 29 years (from 1 February 1981 until 31 January 2010). Being a political scientist has been an exceptionally interesting and rewarding career (in view of New Zealand's academic pay scales, in contrast to salaries paid in the private sector, I wouldn't say, though, that being a political scientist was a richly rewarding career!).
What is more, being a political scientist continues to be both extremely interesting and highly fulfilling. During the first two-and-a-half years following my formal retirement, I held three part-time positions: I was a part-time Professorial Fellow in Political Science at Victoria University; a part-time co-editor of the 'Government and Nation' section of Te Ara, New Zealand's official on-line encyclopaedia; and an expert advisor to the New Zealand Electoral Commission. Although I'm no longer in either full-time or part-time employment, I'm an Emeritus Professor of Political Science and still hugely enjoy research and writing.
My curriculum vitae – an up-to-date, full version of which can be accessed via links on this page – contains details of
- academic appointments that I have held;
- awards and prizes that I have won;
- courses that I have taught during the past decade or so; and
- articles, books, and chapters in books that I have had published.
If, after accessing my cv, you would like further information or if you have any questions about any aspect of the teaching and research I have undertaken during my career, please don't hesitate to contact me at the following email address: Nigel.Roberts88vuw.ac.nz (as I explained on my Homepage, I have used the figure 88 instead of the @ symbol in an attempt to avoid spam-inducing "crawlers" detecting and using my email address). Thank you very much.
This page of my website also contains a link to a section about legislatures and parliaments. In January 2007 I visited the capitol buildings in three US states and saw the states' legislatures in action. Doing so caused me to pause and reflect on what I had seen. In the course of my work as a political scientist and during my travels, I have thus far visited a total of 49 state legislatures in the United States of America, all eight state and territory parliaments in Australia, and two provincial legislatures in Canada, as well as national legislatures and parliaments in more than 30 countries. As a result, I have put pen to paper (or, to be more pedantic but accurate, my index fingers onto my laptop keyboard) and written down some of my reflections on the significance of legislatures and parliaments. Combined with the photographs and the other snippets of information that are linked to my brief essay on legislatures, this section may well prove to be of especial relevance to comparative politics students. I do hope so.
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Pages in the Curriculum vitae section of my website were last updated on 7 November 2024. |
