The Warden of Rhodes House

Dr Donald Markwell (Queensland & Trinity 1981)

Dr Markwell is the eighth Warden of Rhodes House and the first to be himself a Rhodes Scholar (Queensland & Trinity 1981). Prior to assuming the Warden’s role on 1 July 2009, he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) of the University of Western Australia from January 2007. As a Rhodes Scholar, he completed the MPhil and later the DPhil in International Relations. After a year as a Procter Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton (1984-85), he returned to Oxford as a Research Fellow of New College (1985-86) before becoming a Tutorial Fellow of Merton College and University Lecturer in Politics (1986-97). From 1997 to 2007, he served as Warden of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, and was a Professorial Fellow of that University in political science and public policy.

Professor Markwell’s academic and professional interests have been wide-ranging. His recent publications include John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace (OUP, 2006) and 'A large and liberal education': higher education for the 21st century (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2007). He has served on academic editorial boards and institutional advisory or governing boards. He was a member of the Symons Commission on Commonwealth Studies (1995-1997). At the University of Western Australia, he led a major review of curriculum/course structures which attracted international attention. He has been active in the development of educational philanthropy.

Dr Markwell has also been a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, since 2009.

Curriculum vitae

Date and place of birth:

19 April 1959. Quilpie, Queensland, Australia.

Education:

• Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours, University of Queensland, 1981. University Medal.
• Rhodes Scholar for Queensland, 1981.
• MPhil in International Relations, University of Oxford, 1983. MA, 1986.
• DPhil in International Relations, University of Oxford, 1995.

Past positions:

• Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), The University of Western Australia, 2007-2009.
• Warden, Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 1997-2007.
• Professorial Fellow, Department of Political Science and Centre for Public Policy, University of Melbourne, 1998-2007.
• Visiting Professor of Political Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, 1996-1997.
• Fellow and Tutor in Politics, Merton College, Oxford; University Lecturer in Politics, University of Oxford, 1986-1997.
• J. Arthur Rank Research Fellow, New College, Oxford, 1985-1986.
• Visiting researcher, Reserve Bank of Australia, Sydney, July - Sept. 1985.
• J.E. Procter Visiting Fellow, Princeton University, New Jersey, 1984-1985.
• Visiting Fellow, Department of Politics, University of Western Australia, Aug. - Oct. 1984.
• Junior Dean, Trinity College, Oxford, 1983-1984.

Other activities include:

• Ashley Fellow, Trent University, Canada, January-February 2010.
• Member, Board of Trustees, Mandela Rhodes Foundation, 2010- .
• Member, International Academic Advisory Committee, U.S. Studies Centre, University of Sydney, 2009- .
• Member, Supervisory Board, Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King's College, London, 2009- .
• Member, editorial board, The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 1988- .
• Member, Board, St George's College, University of Western Australia, 2008-2009.
• Lay Canon, St George's Cathedral, Perth, 2008-2009.
• Member, Executive, Association for Commonwealth Studies, 2007-2010.
• Member, Council, Anglican Schools Commission (Western Australia), 2007-2009.
• Various professional associations in Australia, Britain, and the United States.
• Former Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
• Member, Geelong Grammar School Council, 1999-2006.
• Member of governing body, Melbourne College of Divinity, 1998-2005.
• Lay Canon, St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, 2001-2006.
• Member, Commission on Commonwealth Studies (appointed by Secretary-General of the Commonwealth), 1995-1997.
• Hon. Secretary, The Round Table, London, 1988-1994.

Teaching includes:

• Supervising over 45 successfully-submitted theses in Oxford and Australia.
• Teaching various courses in international politics, comparative government and other aspects of political science, and 20th century history.

Publications:

Books

• A large and liberal education: higher education for the 21st century, Australian Scholarly Publishing & Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2007.
• John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace, Oxford University Press, 2006. Also published in New York.
• Liberals Face the Future: Essays on Australian Liberalism (co-edited with G. Brandis & T. Harley, foreword by David Butler), Oxford University Press, 1984.
• Also extensive involvement in preparation of A Public Life: The Memoirs of Zelman Cowen, Miegunyah Press, 2006. 

Jointly-authored commission reports

• The Constitutional Structure of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne (First Report of the Archbishop's Constitutional Commission), Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, August 2003.
• Learning from Each Other: Commonwealth Studies for the 21st Century (Reports of the Commission on Commonwealth Studies), Commonwealth Secretariat, London: Interim Report, October 1995; Final Report, June 1996.

Short monographs and papers 

• Keynes and International Economic and Political Relations, Trinity Paper No. 33, Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2009.
• Issues in global higher education: the challenge to the University of Melbourne, Trinity Paper No. 31, Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2006. See also Best-practice universities and Education minister backs colleges
• Education for our time, Trinity Paper No. 28, 2005.
• University education: Australia's urgent need for reform, Trinity Paper No. 27, 2003.
• Undergraduate education for the 21st century: Australia at the crossroads, Trinity Paper No. 20, 2002.
• The Denominational University College Today (paper for John Henry Newman Bicentenary Seminar, Melbourne, February 2001), published as Trinity Paper No. 19, 2001.
• Keynes and Australia, Reserve Bank of Australia, 2000.
• Some reflections on Church and State (Philip Harris Memorial Address, Melbourne, January 2000), published as Trinity Paper No. 14, 2000.
• The Fellowship of Friends: Sir James Darling and the College Ideal (the Second James Darling Memorial Oration, September 1998), Geelong Grammar Foundation; also published as Trinity Paper No. 4, 1998.
• The Crown and Australia (the Trevor Reese Memorial Lecture), University of London, 1987.

Chapters and other contributions to books

• 'Eric Laidlaw Robinson', The Australian Dictionary of Biography, forthcoming.
• 'Constitutional conventions', in Brian Galligan & Winsome Roberts (eds), The Oxford Companion to Australian Politics, Oxford University Press, 2007.
• 'Sir Paul Hasluck' (with Geoffrey Browne), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• 'Sir Alfred Zimmern', in ibid.
• 'Foreword', in Henry Speagle, The Road to Gundagai, Prayer Book Society of Australia (NSW and Victorian Branches), 2003.
• 'Afterword', in Peter Gebhardt, Their Stories Our History, The Helicon Press, Sydney, 2003.
• 'J. M. Keynes, Idealism, and the Economic Bases of Peace', in P. Wilson & D. Long (eds), Thinkers of the Twenty Years Crisis: Idealist International Relations in the Inter-War Period, Oxford University Press, 1995.
• Bibliography of Hedley Bull's published works, in J. D. B. Miller & R. J. Vincent (eds), Order and Violence, Oxford University Press, 1990; and in Robert O'Neill & David N. Schwartz (eds), Hedley Bull on Arms Control, Macmillan, 1987.
• 'British Social Science and Humanities', in T. B. Millar (ed.), The Australian Contribution to Britain, Australian Studies Centre, University of London, 1988.
• 'The Conventions of Ministerial Resignations: The Queensland Coalition Crisis of 1983', in D. A. Low (ed.): Constitutional Heads and Political Crises: Commonwealth Episodes, 1945-85, Macmillan, 1988.
• 'Hedley Bull as a Teacher', in O'Neill & Schwartz, op. cit.
• 'John Maynard Keynes', in David Miller et al. (eds), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought, Blackwell, 1987.
• 'The Politics of Ministerial Resignations', in Patrick Weller & Dean Jaensch (eds), Responsible Government in Australia, Drummond, 1980.

Journal Articles

• 'Australian and Commonwealth Republicanism' (with Jonathan Ritchie), The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, October 2006.
• 'Griffith, Barton and the Early Governor-Generals: Aspects of Australia's Constitutional Development', Public Law Review, December 1999.
• 'Sir John Kerr: a Reflection' The Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, June-December 1991.
• 'Sir Alfred Zimmern Revisited: Fifty Years On', Review of International Studies, October 1986.
• 'On Advice from the Chief Justice', Quadrant, July 1985; also letters, June & October 1985, & April 1986.
• 'The Dismissal', Quadrant, March 1984.

Journal Guest Editor

• Improving Teaching and Learning in Universities, guest editor of special issue of B-HERT NEWS, Business-Higher Education Round Table, Melbourne, November 2003.

Book Reviews

• 'The challenge of creative leadership', Pacifica, June 2007.
• Review article on the U.N. and U.K. in the early cold war, The English Historical Review,January 1993.
• 'Closer still and closer', The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, April 1992 (review of Carl Bridge, Special Relationships': Australia, Britain and the United States since 1941, University of London, 1991).
• Review of William Deakin et al. (eds), British Political and Military Strategy in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe in 1944 (Macmillan, 1988), in The English Historical Review, April 1992.
• 'The defence of Australia', The Round Table, January 1992 (review of Ross Babbage, A Coast Too Long: defending Australia beyond the 1990s, Allen & Unwin, 1990).
• Review of Hans J. Michelman & Panayotis Soldatos (eds), Federalism and International Relations: The Role of Subnational Units (Oxford University Press, 1990), in The Oxford International Review, Winter 1991-92.
• 'Canada's Best', The Round Table, October 1991 (review of Eugene Forsey, A Life on the Fringe, Oxford University Press, 1990).
• 'The End of Eden', The Round Table, July 1989 (review of Richard Lamb, The Failure of the Eden Government, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1987). An earlier version was published inPostmaster, October 1988.
• 'The Cold War, Old and New', The Round Table, January 1989 (review article).
• Review of J. D. B. Miller, Norman Angell and the Futility of War: Peace and the Public Mind (Macmillan, 1986), in Political Studies, vol. 35, 1987.
• 'Masters of dissolution', The Times Literary Supplement, 12 April 1985 (review of Christopher Cunneen, King's Men: Australia's Governors-General from Hopetoun to Isaacs, George Allen & Unwin, 1983).
• 'By reference to the voters', The Times Literary Supplement, 20 April 1984 (review of Sir Garfield Barwick, Sir John Did His Duty, Serendip Press, 1983); also letter, 29 June 1984.
• 'The indispensable man', The Economist, 11 September 1982 (review of A. P. Thirlwall (ed.), Keynes as a Policy Adviser, Macmillan, 1982).

Conference Reports

• 'The federal state: lessons from North American and European experience', Ditchley Foundation, 1991.
• 'A New Generation, Old Institutions and a Middle-Aged Alliance: Is there Room for Innovation in Trans-Atlantic Relationships?', Ditchley Foundation, 1987.

Selected Contributions to Newspapers and Other Media 

• Best-practice universities, Saturday Extra interview with Geraldine Doogue, ABC Radio National, 14 October 2006.
• University challenge, The Australian, 30 August 2006.
• Review of Ray Monk, Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude, Jonathan Cape, 1996, in The Age, 25 May 1996.
• Sir Keith Hancock (obituary), The Independent, London, 24 August 1988.
• Other articles, obituaries, letters, and book reviews in newspapers, including in Australia, The Age, The Age Monthly Review, The Australian, The Canberra Times, The Courier-Mail, The Sydney Morning Herald, and in Britain, The Daily Telegraph, The Economist, The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly, The Independent, and The Times.

Submissions to Public Inquiries

• Inquiry into higher education funding and regulatory legislation by the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee, 2003.
• Victorian Government review of Melbourne University Privates continued registration as a university, 2003.
• Crossroads review of higher education, 2002. 
• Higher Education Review Committee, chaired by Mr Roderick West, 1997.

Selected Major Speeches


Supporting the best student experience for the 21st century: global trends and challenges, opening keynote address, 12th international Asia Pacific Student Services Association conerence, Brisbane, 7 July 2010.

• Remarks at the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Dinner, Chicago, 23 April 2010.
• On liberal education, Trent University, Canada, 9 February 2010.
• The value of university residential colleges, Ashley Lecture, Trent University, Canada, 2 February 2010.
• Speech at the Dinner of the Oxford European Reunion, Berlin, 7 November 2009.
• Welcome Day Speech, Rhodes House, Oxford, 3 October 2009.
• Graduation address, University of Otago, New Zealand, 22 August 2009.
• Keynes and International Economic and Political Relations, Seminar on The Contemporary Relevance of John Maynard Keynes, Trinity, College, The University of Melbourne, 1 April 2009.
• Working together to become 'world-class' universities, ASEAN University Network Rectors' Conference, Brunei Darussalam, 1 December 2008
• A renaissance in collegiate education?, National Association of Australian University Colleges conference, UWA, 4 July 2008.
• The teaching-research nexus from the policy-maker's perspective, Teaching-Research Nexus seminar, UWA, 16 June 2008.
• The Review of Course Structures at The University of Western Australia,Australian Financial Review Higher Education conference, Sydney, 14 March 2008.
• What makes an effective Academic Board?, national conference of Chairs of  Academic Boards, Perth, 22 October 2007.
• Why study the Commonwealth?, opening address, Association of Commonwealth Studies conference, Windsor, UK, 20 May 2007.
• Attributes of international excellence: issues in global higher education, The University of Western Australia Leadership Retreat, 7 February 2007.
• The challenge of student engagement, Teaching and Learning Forum, UWA, 30 January 2007.
• Broadening the culture of educational philanthropy in Australia, BHERT conference, Sydney, May 2006.
• Managing your boss: tips for the Director of Development, address to Annual General Meeting of ADAPE (Association of Development and Alumni Professionals in Education) Vic/Tas, Melbourne, 22 March 2005.
• Leadership and the role of the CEO in educational advancement, keynote address to the National Conference of ADAPE, Melbourne, 17 September 2002.