Education
Born in Truro, United Kingdom, Tonkin is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States. He earned his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University and his Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University.
Born in Truro, United Kingdom, Tonkin is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States. He earned his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University and his Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University.
His academic specialities include the English Renaissance and Edmund Spenser, as well as language use and international languages. In 1974 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for a research year at Oxford University. The years 1980-1981 he spent as a guest professor at Columbia University.
In 1983 he became president of the Potsdam College of the State University of New New York
From 1989 he was president of the University of Hartford. He currently teaches Shakespeare and Development of Theatre at the University of Hartford"s Hartt School.
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.
In 1983 he was among the founders of the Esperantophone Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino (AIS).
Tonkin is one of the editors of the journal Language Problems and Language Planning.
Academy of Esperanto. International Academy of Sciences San Marino. Center for Research and Documentation on World Language Problems.
Esperantic Studies Foundation.
Universal Esperanto Association;]
Tonkin is also a member of the Akademio de Esperanto.