Fiordland College's Head of Social Sciences Dr Sue Peoples has been awarded one of just two 2019 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Programme for New Zealand Teachers.

Dr Peoples was presented with her award in Wellington last week by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and US Ambassador to New Zealand Scott Brown and will travel to the United States in January to take part in a five-month teaching programme.

She said she was on holiday in Rarotonga when she received the news.

"I had my Skype interview here (in Te Anau) and when I was in Rarotonga they phoned me. It's pretty exciting. The news has been embargoed for quite a while so it's only been released in the last week but I've known for a number of weeks. (I'm) very very excited about the opportunities and the professional growth I can undertake with it."

The awards are presented to two New Zealand teachers each year for highly accomplished work in primary or secondary schooling and allows them to participate in an intensive professional development programme in the US.

Dr Peoples was the only recipient from the South Island and is the first teacher from Fiordland College to receive the award.

This year's other recipient was a teacher from Mount Maunganui.

Dr Peoples said she hoped to expand upon her idea of using Maori-inspired art sculptures that generate renewable energy during her time in the US, an idea that was nominated for the Abu Dhabi-based Zayed Sustainability Prize earlier this year.

"We didn't win but it was an amazing experience that gave me the idea of what else can we do to ensure that all the projects that schools are developing are actually included in their programmes of learning," she said."So it's part of my role but it's more sort of a passion that I've got and wanting to just keep on and be involved in it."

Alongside her teaching and developing roles Dr Peoples will also be doing research to find out what would make better environmental programmes for schools around the world.

She said she would find out where specifically in the US she'll be sent in the coming months, and hoped it would be a mountain location.