Jane Beaglehole Ritchie  Jane Beaglehole Ritchie (née Beaglehole) is a New Zealand psychology academic and expert of child-raising. She is currently an emeritus professor at the University of Waikato. She was the first woman to graduate with a PhD in psychology from a New Zealand university. The daughter of psychologist and ethnologist Ernest Beaglehole, Ritchie completed a 1957 MSc thesis titled "Childhood in Rakau: A Study of the First Five Years of Life" and a 1962 PhD title " 'Maori Families: an Exploratory Study in Wellington City.' " While at Victoria, she met and married James Ritchie, and the two collaborated on almost all their future research, just as her parents had done. They both moved to University of Waikato, and both rose to full professor. In the 1989 New Year Honours, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to women, education and the community. James Ritchie died in 2009 and Jane retired in 2010.