Persona

Mills, John Aitken, 1931-

John Aitken Mills was born on June 4, 1931 in Manuden, Essex, United Kingdom and emigrated to South Africa in 1946. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a B. Sc. in Geology and Geography in 1951 and was awarded an M. Sc. in Geology in 1953. In 1958, he returned to the University of Cape Town, completing a B. A. (Hons.) in Psychology in 1961. The University of Cape Town awarded him a Ph. D. in Psychology in 1965 for a thesis entitled "The Recall of Connected Discourse." In 1963 he married Ann Newdigate, and has two children, Julian John Mills, (b 1965) and Josephine Mary Mills (b 1967). In 1966, he was appointed an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Campus, becoming an Associate Professor in 1969 and a Full Professor in 1974. Initially, he continued his research on verbal memory. Then, in collaboration with Professor Gordon Winocur, he opened the new laboratories in the Department of Psychology in 1967 and worked on neuropsychology and on learning in rats. He then shifted his interests to psycholinguistics and, eventually, to the history of psychology, where he worked on eighteenth and early nineteenth century Scottish philosophy and the history of behaviourism. In the latter field, his work culminated in a book, Hard-Nosed Psychologists: A History of Behavioral Psychology (New York: New York University Press). He was a founder member of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, helped to create and serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Theory and Psychology, is an extremely active member of the Western Canadian Theoretical Psychologists, and a prominent member of Cheiron (a society devoted to historical psychology). Professor Mills served on numerous committees including the Interdisciplinary Studies Committee of the College of Arts and Science in 1969-72 and 1979-81. He played a decisive role in creating the Linguistics Program and was its first Chair from 1970 to 1975. He served on the executive of the Faculty Association and was vice-chairman 1885-86 and in 1988 co-ordinated the faculty strike. He was a founder member of the City Park Neighbourhood Association and was also a founder member of the Saskatoon Open School. He remained at the University of Saskatchewan until his retirement in 1998