Dr Allison Oosterman joined the New Zealand Herald as a journalist in 1969 after she graduated with her BA from the University of Auckland.
She also trained as a teacher and taught at Otahuhu College for two years. Once her children were school age, she returned to journalism eventually becoming the editor of a national food industry magazine.
Higher learning called and she was an inaugural student on AUT's MA programme. She then became part of the teaching staff in the School of Communication Studies where she currently teaches on the journalism programme as a senior lecturer. In 2010, she graduated with her PhD from the school.
Her research interest is New Zealand's early press history and she is currently also associate editor of Pacific Journalism Review.