Don Aitkin AO was an Australian political scientist, writer, and administrator.
16 Facts About Don Aitkin
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Don Aitkin served as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Canberra from 1991 to 2002, and as Vice-President of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee in 1994 and 1995.
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Don Aitkin played an influential role in the evolution of national policies for research and higher education from the mid-1980s, when he was the Chairman of the Australian Research Grants Committee, a member of the Australian Science and Technology Council, and Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Australian National University.
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Don Aitkin was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1998.
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Don Aitkin was educated first in History, receiving a Master of Arts with First Class Honours at the University of New England in 1961, and moved to Political Science for his PhD.
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Don Aitkin worked at the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before returning to Australia as a Research Fellow at the ANU.
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Don Aitkin was appointed the Foundation Professor of Politics at Macquarie University in 1971, and returned once more to the ANU in 1980 as Professor of Political Science in the Department in which he studied for his PhD.
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Don Aitkin has written or edited thirteen books, one of them a novel, another a family memoir and the remainder all focusing on one or other aspect of Australian history, politics and education.
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Don Aitkin was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1975, one of the youngest Fellows ever elected, a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators in 1995, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Australian Planning Institute in 2001.
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Don Aitkin played a leading role in the establishment of the Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research Inc.
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Don Aitkin was the President of the Australasian Political Studies Association in 1979 and a long-running Treasurer.
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Don Aitkin became well known in Australia in the 1970s, both as a widely read columnist in the now defunct National Times and as a television commentator.
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Don Aitkin is a columnist for The Australian Financial Review, and served for a year as Contributing Editor of Newsweek.
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Don Aitkin was a Director of ArtSound FM between 2004 and 2006.
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Don Aitkin was the Chairman of the Australian Mathematics Trust from 1992 to 2004 and of the National Olympiad Council from 1997 to 2004.
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Don Aitkin fathered 5 children of his own, 4 from his first marriage, 1 with his second wife before settling down for the rest of his life with Beverly who had 4 children of her own.