Humphrey R. Tonkin (born 2 December 1939) is professor of English, and served as the 4th president of the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and it ...

. He is also a dedicated

Esperantist An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperanto ...

Biography

Born in

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

, UK, Tonkin is a dual citizen of the U.K. and the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

He earned his undergraduate degree from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and his PhD from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. His academic specialities include the

English Renaissance The English Renaissance was a Cultural movement, cultural and Art movement, artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginni ...

and

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...

, as well as language use and international languages. As a professor of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, Tonkin in 1970 received the

Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching The Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award is given out by the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation. History Christian Lindback was the president and owner of Abbotts Dairies. He was also a trustee of Bucknell University. His foundation e ...

. From 1971 to 1975 he served as Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Studies. In 1974 he was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

and spent a research year (1975-76) at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. The years 1980–81 he spent as a visiting professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

; in 1983 he became president of the Potsdam College of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

. From 1989 to 1998 he was president of the University of Hartford and University Professor of the Humanities. In 2006 he received the Cassandra Pyle Award for Leadership and Collaboration in International Education and Exchange. In semi-retirement, he taught Shakespeare and Development of Theatre at the University of Hartford's Hartt School until 2015. As an Esperantist, Tonkin has written and translated numerous works in and about the language. Between 1974 and 1980 as well as between 1986 and 1989 he was president of the

Universal Esperanto Association The Universal Esperanto Association ( eo, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA), also known as the World Esperanto Association, is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with 5501 individual members in 121 countries and 9215 th ...

. In 1983 he was among the founders of the Esperantophone

Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino The International Academy of Sciences San Marino ( eo, Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino, AIS) was a scientific association. It was established in 1983 and had its first convention, SUS 1, around New Year 1984 in the City of San Marino ...

(AIS). Tonkin is also a member of the

Akademio de Esperanto The Akademio de Esperanto (AdE; en, Academy of Esperanto, link=yes) is an independent body of Esperanto speakers who steward the evolution of said language by keeping it consistent with the ''Fundamento de Esperanto'' in accordance with the Decl ...

. Tonkin is one of the editors of the journal ''

Language Problems and Language Planning ''Language Problems and Language Planning'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by John Benjamins Publishing Company in cooperation with the Center for Research and Documentation on World Language Problems. Its core topics are issues of l ...

''.

Fund for Innovation

In 2022

Esperantic Studies Foundation The Esperantic Studies Foundation, abbreviated ESF is a non-profit organisation initiated in 1968 by Jonathan Pool, E. James Lieberman and Humphrey Tonkin, with the aim to further the understanding and practice of linguistic justice in a multicult ...

created a fund that bears his name: "''Humphrey Tonkin Fund for Innovation''" to accelerate new projects for research in education and linguistic justice.

References

External links

*
biography
in English from the University of Hartford *A

from Virginia Commonwealth University about Tonkin as a guest lecturer
Works
by Tonkin in Esperanto {{DEFAULTSORT:Tonkin, Humphrey Tonkin, Humphrey R. 1939 births Living people Harvard University alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Columbia University staff Presidents of campuses of the State University of New York State University of New York at Potsdam Presidents of the University of Hartford People from Truro English Esperantists Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Hartford Hartt School faculty