New Geography Head At Canterbury University

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29902, 16 August 1962, Page 17

New Geography Head At Canterbury University

When Professor R. S. Waters, the new head of the geography department at the University of Canterbury, visited Christchurch last November. he took a scenic flight over the South Island and exclaimed: "Look at all that geomorphology.” Back to take up his appointment yesterday, Professor Waters said again that the enor-

mous range of land forms in the South Island was a major attraction. He doubted whether any other country offered such varied scope for geographical study within such a short compass. Professor Waters is also keenly interested in glaciology. and he finds that the

South Island again offers ihany research opportunities. Studies of granite have a special appeal for him and he plans to make an early trip to Stewart Island to investigate the tors —huge piles of granite standing on hilltops. Having made extensive observations in the Arctic as A pilot in Flying Fortresses of the Coastal Command during the war and as a member of the Spitsbergen expedition in 1958, Professor Waters is also eager to visit the Antarctic. He is pleased that the University of Canterbury already has “a foot in” with Antarctic scientific expeditions. His own chief Antarctic interests are the icefree areas, known by the Eskimos as nunataks. “High Tradition” Professor Waters said he realised he had to uphold a high tradition. Professor G. Jobberns. first holder of the chair, was respected internationally, and Professor L. L. Pownall had enhanced the reputation of the department in the short period before he was appointed Vice-Chan-cellor of the university. Professor' Waters comes to Canterbury from the University of Exeter, Devon, with an outstanding academic and research record, a reputation as a gifted teacher in the l classroom and the field,- and ( a record as a scientist who is [ at home in all branches of . physical geography. He has . unusual knowledge of meteo- , rology. climatology, and bio-1 geography. , At Reading University. Pro-' fessor Waters’s studies were! J interrupted by the war. He. enlisted in the Royal Air;

Force, trained in Saskatchewan. was commissioned as a pilot, and became an instructor in reconnaissance and astro-navigation at Prince Edward Island. He then joined No. 251 Squadron at Reykjavik. Iceland, as a flight commander.

Re-entering the . honours school at Reading in 1948 Professor Waters graduated With first-class honours in geography and won the Mackinder Prize and the exhibition of the British Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He took his master’s degree in 1951 After that he held university teaching positions at Reading. Sheffield, and Exeter Professor Waters has brought with him to New Zealand his wife and four children—three boys and a girl ranging in age from 11 years to 18 months.