FORMER Leeton resident Catharina Williams-van Klinken has been appointed as a professor in East Timor, making her the first person to receive this title in the small country.
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Catharina and her husband Rob Williams lived in Leeton from 1990 until 2002.
During that period, Rob worked as a research scientist at the Yanco Agricultural Institute.
From Leeton, the pair moved to Dili in East Timor.
At that time, East Timor was starting to organize a stable peace after the chaos and damage following the exit of the Indonesian occupiers.
Since 2002, Rob has used his expertise to help farmers.
For many years he worked in the Australian-funded program "Seeds of Life".
He now leads a second program called "AI-Com", focusing on agriculture research.
Meanwhile, Catharina initially worked for the American Peace Corps, writing a language manual, which is still used by many foreigners to learn Tetun, the main indigenous language of East Timor.
Since then she has led the language program at Dili Institute of Technology, as well as leading the translation of the New Testament into Tetun.
Recently Catharina was promoted to professor - the first person to receive this title in East Timor.
Her academic journey started with a degree with first class honours in linguistics from the University of Queensland and a PhD from the Australian National University.
While at Dili Institute of Technology, Catharina has researched, taught, and supervised lecturers teaching Tetun, English and Portuguese.
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Her publications include dictionaries, grammars, university manuals, academic articles and a newspaper series.
These were assessed by a panel of international and national experts, who recommended that the promotion go ahead.
"Rob and Catharina have very happy memories of their years in Leeton," Friends of Luro member and Leeton resident Eric Hudson said.
"Over the years they have been an integral part of Friends of Luro, helping with cultural questions and translation and with hosting Leeton visitors in East Timor."
