Merlin Donald
267 Ridout Street
Port Hope, Ontario
Canada, L1A 1P6
Ph: (905) 375-5680
Em: donaldm@queensu.ca |
Dr. Merlin Donald, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, Queen's University at Kingston
Merlin Donald was born in Montreal, Canada. After completing a BA at Loyola College (now Concordia University) in Montreal, he went on to obtain an MA in Psychology from the University of Ottawa, and a PhD in Neuropsychology from McGill University, where he also carried out Graduate Studies in Philosophy. He spent two years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Yale University, followed by three years as a Research Neuropsychologist, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology, at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Donald joined the faculty at Queen’s University, in Ontario, in 1972, and progressed through the ranks to become a Full Professor in the Department of Psychology, and the Faculty of Education. He became Chair of Department of Psychology in 2002. In 2005, he became Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Cognitive Science, at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio. He has recently retired from teaching and administration to dedicate himself more fully to his own writing and research, and is now Professor Emeritus at Queen’s University and Adjunct Professor of Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University.
Donald is the author of many scientific papers, and two influential books: Origins of the Modern Mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition (Harvard, 1991), and A Mind so Rare: The evolution of human consciousness (Norton, 2001). His work has been translated into nine languages. He has been a visiting professor or scholar at University College London, Harvard, Stanford, UCSD, and elsewhere, as well as a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, at Stanford University, and a Killam Research Fellow. He was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1984, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1995, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Science in 2006. His work has been widely reviewed in various academic disciplines, including linguistics, archaeology, biology, cognitive science, psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience, and in many high-profile periodicals.
Donald has a strong interest in the cognitive study of the arts, and the cultural impact of new media, and his academic work continues to be focused on human cognitive evolution, and especially on the complex interactions between mind, technology, and culture. He is also a published poet. |
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