Leoni Schmidt is a South African-born New Zealand art historian and full professor in and previous Head of the Dunedin School of Art and Director of Research and Postgraduate Studies at the

Otago Polytechnic Otago Polytechnic is a public Education in New Zealand#Tertiary education, New Zealand tertiary education institute, centred in Dunedin with additional campuses in Cromwell, New Zealand, Cromwell and Auckland. Otago Polytechnic provides career-f ...

and Deputy Chief Executive (Academic) at Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus in New Zealand. Leoni has supervised and assessed many postgraduate students up to the Master's level in the Dunedin School of Art and other universities and polytechnics, and doctoral candidates at other institutions. She also mentors candidates in Otago Polytechnic's Doctorate of Professional Practice programme.

Academic career

Schmidt studied fine arts and graduated with a BA (Fine Arts) from the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

and an MA (Fine Arts) from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

in 1976. At the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant fundi ...

she completed a D Litt et Phil in 1982. Schmidt worked as a senior lecturer in South Africa before moving to New Zealand to teach at Otago Polytechnic in 1996. She was the first person to be appointed full professor at Otago Polytechnic when head of the Dunedin School of Art. One of Schmidt's doctoral students is Professor Caro McCaw. In 2008 Schmidt was awarded the International Arts in Society Award for Excellence in the Field of the Arts. In 2011 Schmidt won an Ako Aotearoa Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Leoni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of South Africa alumni University of the Witwatersrand alumni University of Johannesburg alumni Academic staff of Otago Polytechnic South African emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand art historians New Zealand women academics