Our people and heritage

College Leadership and Pastoral Team


Kaiāwhina Whare 2026

Salmond has a team of nine student staff at Salmond, our hard-working Kaiāwhina Whare (Residential Leaders). These are senior students who have previously experienced residential college life and are here to lead and serve in the community. There is always a Kaiāwhina Whare on duty in the evening after Gina has finished for the day.

Each area of the College has a designated Kaiāwhina Whare to assist residents with general pastoral care, facilitate social activities, help residents adjust to communal life, and help with study or other issues.

Operations Team

Property and Maintenance Team

Our Special Character

The constitution of our Board provides that Salmond College is established as part of the mission of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand to support students to flourish and contribute to a flourishing world. 

Presbyterians seek equality, the dignity of all persons, fairness, justice, compassion, and to serve all of society as we strive for the common good. The Presbyterian Church strongly values learning and scholarship and celebrates the mutuality between faith and reason.

Salmond provides a living environment that welcomes students from all or no faith backgrounds. The colleges are committed to the wellbeing and growth of each resident in their academic, personal, physical and spiritual life.

Students are encouraged to link growth in knowledge to an ethic of service and are encouraged to contribute to the wider community through volunteering and service to the community. Residents are encouraged to celebrate diversity, respect difference and value inclusivity. 

As a Presbyterian college, Salmond provides optional opportunities for personal faith formation in the Christian tradition. In addition, the colleges are committed to providing spiritual support to students of all faith backgrounds. This includes helping link students to the chaplaincy services offered in the wider tertiary community.

Senior management collectively lead in embodying, modelling and fostering relationships that reflect the colleges’ special character.

Heritage Built on Community

Governed by the Board of Knox and Salmond Colleges, Salmond Hall opened in 1971 to accommodate women students alongside Knox College, a male-only college. The Hall became coeducational in the last 1970's. Salmond and Knox Colleges share their 4.57-hectare site located in North Dunedin by the Dunedin Botanic Gardens.

In 2006, Salmond Hall officially became Salmond College, reflecting its growth as a residential college and its strong academic and collegiate identity.

The college takes its name from two influential members of the Presbyterian community: Mary Salmond and her brother, Reverend James David (J.D.) Salmond. Mary was a graduate of the University of Otago and a principal of the Deaconess College, while J.D. Salmond was a Presbyterian minister and lecturer at Knox Theological Hall.

That sense of connection through the many people during the past 50+ years is captured in Salmond’s whakataukī:

Ko te toa i a tini, i a mano o te takata
It is the bravery of a multitude, of thousands of people.