Professor Don Markwell

The Head of College is the Chief Executive Officer of the College and its academic head. He is responsible to the College Board for the good management of St Mark's in all its aspects.

Professor Markwell is available to any member of the College on any matter, and meets regularly with student leaders. He is keen to discuss with any student how to make the most of their years at College and at university, and how to maximise opportunities for their later careers (including, where it is of interest, for post-graduate study). Appointments to meet with Professor Markwell should be made through the Front Office.

Born in Outback Queensland, Professor Markwell studied at the Universities of Queensland and Oxford (as a Rhodes Scholar), and at Princeton. He taught politics and international relations in Oxford for a decade (primarily as a Fellow of Merton College and University lecturer) before becoming Warden of Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. He has since served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) of the University of Western Australia, the global head of the Rhodes Scholarships as Warden of Rhodes House, Oxford, senior advisor to the Australian Minister for Education and to the Attorney-General of Australia, and as Warden of St Paul’s College at the University of Sydney.  He also, for example, worked with former Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, on the development of the New Colombo Plan, which supports Australian undergraduates to study abroad and undertake internships in the Indo-Pacific region.

Professor Markwell is an Adjunct Professor in the University of Adelaide’s School of Social Sciences, and the author of a number of books on issues in politics, international relations, higher education, and leadership.

Professor Markwell is a member of the Council of the National Library of Australia (of which the College’s first Master, Sir Archibald Grenfell Price, was the inaugural chair), and on the board of the Constitution Education Fund Australia (CEFA).

In January 2023, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) “for significant service to education in a range of roles”.