Carol Tasker

How this student missionary became a cross-cultural educator

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Dr Carol Tasker

Dr Carol Tasker (nee Hay)’s career as a cross-cultural educator began at Avondale. The third-year student needed help with her fees, so she joined the college’s student missionary program, which offered one free unit in the final year in return for one year of service. The experience at what is now Samoa Adventist College changed Carol’s life—it led to three decades of work for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in six countries.

The journey began four days after graduation—Carol married David Tasker in the Watson Hall chapel in a service conducted by the late Dr Arthur Patrick. The couple raised their two boys, Nathan and Stephen, in the Solomon Islands.

After a move back to New Zealand, the family headed to Papua New Guinea. Carol lectured in education and religion at Pacific Adventist University (PAU). She became director of Services to Adventist International Libraries while working on her doctoral degree at Andrews University in the United States. Then came roles as dean of the School of Education, again at PAU, and as supervisor of master’s theses and doctoral dissertations at the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies in the Philippines. Carol is now the associate director of Adventist Education for the church in the South Pacific.

Carol and David have embraced cultural diversity. It has added colour and meaning to their lives and influenced the career and lifestyle choices of their children. It has also seen Carol teach hundreds of international students—she is humbled to be one of the mentors for a generation of leaders.

The class of 1975 honours Carol for faithfully responding to God’s calling and for her commitment to the ministry of teaching.

Brenton Stacey
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Brenton Stacey

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Brenton is Avondale University’s Public Relations and Philanthropy Officer. He brings to the role experience as a communicator in publishing, media relations, public relations, radio and television, mostly within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific and its entities.

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