Dr Apirana Mahuika, a cousin to Dr Cathy Dewes, said it was "a proud day for her whanau, for her iwi and for Maoridom".
He said receiving the doctorate was also recognition of a lifetime of work and although a normal doctorate would be awarded for work in a particular field "her hypothesis is there is value in Maori tikanga, a Maori kaupapa and Maori language".
He said her success was measured in the large number of graduates from the kura who had gone on to achieve success in many endeavours.
Pro vice-chancellor (Maori) and the dean of Maori and Pacific development Dr Linda Smith reiterated those comments by saying "she has produced generations of speakers."
One of the highest compliments was paid by Ngati Porou with their haka ruaumoko. More than 400 people witnessed the event and were representative of not only Dr Dewes' iwi but also those involved in Maori education and the wider community.
Dr Dewes' commitment to te reo started at Wellington Girls' High School where she was head girl in the late 1960s. She was able to learn and speak Italian, German, French and Latin, but her request to learn Maori was turned down by the principal.
"It was then I realised that society needed to change in order that Maori might live," she said.
Dr Dewes earned a degree in Maori from Victoria University and it was while she was at university that she joined her peers to form the Te Reo Maori Society, supported the Maori Language Petition and lobbied for Maori news on radio and television.
In 1985, Dr Dewes, a trained teacher, opened one of the first Maori language schools in New Zealand, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Ruamata in Rotorua. She worked unpaid for almost a decade until government funding was secured and is still principal there.
She considers the development and implementation of the Aho Matua approach to learning and teaching in Kura Kaupapa Maori her major achievement.
In 1994 Dr Dewes became the first woman to stand for the Te Arawa Trust Board, which had existed without women for 50 years. She was supported by her own Ngati Rangitihi iwi and won a seat.