Dallas Knight will take the latest step in an extraordinary 50-year-long educational journey, involving study at the University of Otago, when she graduates with a PhD today.
''Wow! I am amazed,'' she said about that long involvement with Otago University, which began when she enrolled for a three-year diploma in physical education in 1964.
Mrs Knight (67) completed her initial studies in 1966 and has lived in Hawkes Bay for the past 35 years.
After graduating, she had worked as a secondary school physical education teacher. She later spent 30 years as a violin teacher, and has also become deeply involved in health-related research. She will graduate from the university today with a PhD in information science, and will be among about 230 people graduating in person in a 3pm ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall.
Her thesis focuses on aspects of the potential for New Zealand midwives to make more use of information communication technology (ICT) to communicate health information, including to expectant mothers.
Her study showed that midwives used ICT resources for their professional and private use but were reluctant to use the internet to engage with women and to convey health information in this way.
But most women of childbearing age felt ''comfortable in the virtual world''. and there was scope for some changes ''in the way midwifery services are provided'', she said.
Mrs Knight (nee Cummins) developed an early passion for the information communications technology (ICT) and the internet.
And, since 2002, she has completed three further qualifications from Otago University, all through distance teaching.
A graduate diploma in health informatics (2002) was followed by a master of health sciences degree in 2006.
During her time as a distance student at Otago, her interest and belief in her topic - the use of internet and mobile technologies in health - had ''never waned''.
''Since the early 1990s, I have been excited about the power and potential of the internet to democratise information.''
The internet had also become ''a social space where people can learn from and support each other'', including over health matters.
Her husband is Dr Doug Knight, a Hawkes Bay surgeon, and she has long worked as a research assistant, using the internet to undertake health-related research for the practice.
It was ''wonderful'' to graduate from Otago again, and it had been a privilege to undertake PhD study.
She was grateful for the strong support she had received during her studies, including from her husband and from university staff.
Distance teaching through Otago University offered life-changing opportunities, including for students living in provincial areas far from their nearest university campus.
The online resources available to distance students had been ''constantly improving''.
And those distance teaching resources now enabled all students, old and young, employed or unemployed, to ''pursue academic study'', she said.