An excellent academic leader, Caroline McCaw, was awarded a New York residency from the prestigious Fullbright Scholar-in-Residence Award.

Caroline McCaw from Otago Polytechnic will be having an American adventure after being awarded by the Fullbright Scholar-in Residence. She would teach at State University of New York (SUNY) and she will also be undertaking researches.

The Fullbright Award was worth 30,000 USD, excluding the airfare cost. She was also awarded with Polytechnic's Academic Award in Communication Design. The awarding ceremony was held at Parliament, 5:30 of Tuesday, 28 June 2016, Scoop reported.

The State university of New York (SUNY) submitted an application to Fullbright to secure Caroline MacCaw's residency in New York. SUNY attracted McCaw to their Canton Campus in New York where she will be teaching courses on design principles and interaction design. She will also be implementing an Arts of Oceana course in SUNY's Graphic and Multimedia Design program.

Caroline McCaw was a recipient of the 2014 AKO Aotaera Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award and she has been to conferences around the world. She completed her doctorate which is about New Zealand art and design.

Caroline McCaw will continue her research in her area of specialty, which is taking about the value of local arts and designs, during her residency in upstate New York. She will also consider virtual designs, social, and physical ideas of local New York. Furthermore, she will initiate a collaborative project between SUNY and Otago Polytechnic School of Design students and staff, Voxy.co.nz reported.

Caroline's two youngest sons, 8 and 13, will be joining her in the trip and are equally excited as she is, says Caroline McCaw. The rest of her family will be joining them in New York for a white Christmas, she said.

Caroline will be leaving Dunedin in early August for her residency in Canton, New York.