Joan Stevens Hall

Victoria's new Hall of Residence at 132 The Terrace has been officially named the Joan Stevens Hall.

The Hall is named after Emeritus Professor Joan Stevens, CBE, a former member of the (then) Department of English Language and Literature from 1947 until her retirement in 1973. 

According to an entry by Stuart Johnstone in the Dictionary of New Zealand Bipography Joan Stevens joined Victoria University College as a senior lecturer along with James Bertram.

"These two outstanding Oxford graduates thereby doubled the permanent staff of the department and greatly strengthened it, just as the surge of post-war enrolments was beginning. She taught a wide range of courses before settling on fiction and New Zealand literature as her special fields. In 1962 she began teaching a Master's paper on New Zealand literature, the first of its kind for New Zealand universities."

In 1960 she was appointed Associate Professor before becoming a Professor in 1971. She died in 1990.

The Terrace building - a former office block - was purchased by Maurice Clark of Cheops Holdings, and will be leased by Victoria. It is currently being refurbished by McKee-Fehl Construction into a student accommodation complex.

The newly-named 241 bed hall will be a fully catered hall, serving primarily domestic first-year students, and will be open for the 2011 intake.