Quick Facts
Biography
Dame Phyllis Myra Guthardt DBE (born 1 August 1929) served for four years as the chancellor (ceremonial and civic head) of the University of Canterbury until her tenure ended on 31 December 2002.
When Phyllis Guthardt was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1959, she became the first woman of any denomination to be ordained in New Zealand. She was later to be the first woman elected to the presidency of New Zealand's Methodist Church in 1985.
"In the early 1950s the Methodist Church decided it had nothing in principle against the ordination of women. In 1954 I moved from Christchurch, where I was working as a young teacher and studying part time at Canterbury University, to Auckland so I could enter Trinity College ... I completed my bachelor's degree at Auckland University and went on to study part-time and earn my MA in English while I was a probationer minister in Christchurch."
After 3½ years of parish ministry, Phyllis received a scholarship to attend Cambridge University. In addition to the scholarship Methodist women around New Zealand raised £1000 to support her studies. At Cambridge she was a student at Newnham College; she earned her Ph.D in Biblical Studies. When she returned to New Zealand three and a half years later it was to Hamilton. She served as presbyter at the Melville church and as a hospital chaplain.
It was in Hamilton, New Zealand that she began her long affiliation with New Zealand's tertiary education system. She was the first ecumenical chaplain at the University of Waikato and also lectured in English and Religious Studies. When she moved to Christchurch she became involved with the University Council. She served on the council for 21 years. Rev. Phyllis Guthardt served with the World Council of Churches, the Christian Conference of Asia, and the World Methodist Conference.
Honours
For her services to education and the Methodist Church she was named as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.
The Universities of Waikato and Canterbury awarded Rev. Guthardt honorary doctorate degrees.