Taft, Ronald

Positions summary

Fred Schonell Chair of Education, 1968-1981; Emeritus Professor 1982.

Biography

Ronald Taft was born in Melbourne in 1920. He was educated at Scotch College and Melbourne University, where he received a BA in 1939, majoring in Philosophy and Political Science. In 1941 he received a MA in the fields of social and clinical psychology from Columbia, and in 1950 a PhD from the University of California where his fields of work were personality and social psychology. 

From 1942-48 Taft worked as an individual psychologist and personnel advisory officer in Australia and between 1951 and 1956 held positions at the University of Western Australia, and the University of Melbourne before being appointed to the Fred Schonell Chair of Education at Monash in 1968. Professor Taft is a scholar of international reputation. He has been widely published focusing on social values, personality and its assessment, and migrant assimilation. In 1962 he was elected to the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and in 1976 was awarded the Research Medal of the Royal Society of Victoria for his contribution to scientific research in the fields of adjustment of immigrants and their ethnic loyalties, creativity and the artistic process, and educational achievement. He has served as Chairman of the British Psychological Society's Australian Branch and President of its successor the Australian Psychological Society. Between 1966 and 1972 he also served as editor of the Society's journal - The Australian Journal of Psychology.

Professor Taft is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association, and a member of the Social Science Research Council of Australia and New Zealand, and the Indian Psychological Association. He is also a permanent Australian delegate at the Assembly of the International Union of Psychology and in 1980 became a member of its Executive Committee. At various times Professor Taft has been Visiting Fellow at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto, and the East-West Centre, Hawaii; and invited to lecture and consult in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Yugoslavia and Italy. At Monash Professor Taft played an active role within the Faculty of Education and on the committees of the university. He served on the Experiments Involving Human Subjects Committee, PhD and Research Committee, Special Admissions Committee and Student Counselling Committee. The Diploma of Educational Psychology was created in 1976 largely through his initiative, and he served as Acting Dean of the Faculty in the same year. In 1981 Professor Taft retired from Monash and in recognition of his outstanding record in research and teaching Council conferred upon him the title of Emeritus Professor. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles and his monographs include: From Stranger to Citizen (1965) Attitudes and Social Conditions (1970) The Career Aspirations of Immigrant Schoolchildren in Victoria (1975) Psychology in Australia: achievements and prospects (1976) Australian Attitudes to Immigrants (1978) Initial Adjustments to Schooling in Immigrant Families (1978) Ronald Taft died on 21 October 2023.

Papers

Correspondence files and personal records 1963-2006
Small collection of correspondence related to Prof. Taft's academic interests and position within Faculty of Education; personal papers, testamurs; taped interviews; and a memoir last edited by Prof. Taft in Jan. 2004.

Records related to the Faculty of Education 1971-1980
Small collection related to course development within Faculty of Education, selected by Prof. Taft for historical value.

Research and teaching files 1938-2016
Correspondence, lecture notes and working papers; and comprehensive collection of offprints of articles by Prof. Taft and colleagues in his field of research. Also included are files related to conferences and teaching and supervision of research students.

See also
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia: Emeritus Professor Ron Taft