#  David Frederick Hawkins 

 

 



 person 





 

David Frederick Hawkins (1933–) grew up at Fairlight on the northern side of Sydney Harbor and attended North Sydney Boys High School. He finished first in the breaststroke at the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland swimming the “butterfly” style and then represented Australia at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. (Hawkins won two gold medals for Australia in relay events at the 1954 Empire Games in Vancouver where he swam orthodox breaststroke because of the banning of the butterfly. The butterfly became its own event at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.)

After the Helsinki Games, he came to the United States to obtain a university education because he would have needed to take a Teacher’s Scholarship to attend the University of Sydney (this would have bonded him after graduation to teach wherever he was sent by the N.S.W. Education Department). He received an admission offer from the University of Michigan. Yale offered to ‘redshirt’ him for a year because of the current strength of their swimming team. In August 1952, he was offered admission to Harvard University with the understanding that he would pay for his board ($300) and tuition ($600) by working at Harvard. At the end of his freshman year he was awarded the Frank Scott Gerrish Scholarship and with this award he was able to pay for his board and tuition for the final three years of his Harvard degree. David Hawkins initially concentrated in economics but switched to government. He was unable to do a senior thesis in government because he had not taken the required introductory courses and graduated with the class of 1956, Cum Laude in General Studies.

After commencement, Hawkins enrolled at the Harvard Business School obtaining his M.B.A. in 1958. He then joined Australian Carbon Black Pty Ltd, Melbourne as executive assistant to the managing director but received his first assignment to Boston. He coached the Harvard freshman swimming team of 1958–1959 before returning to Australia. In January 1960 he was enrolled in the doctoral program at Harvard Business School, graduating D.B.A. in 1960. He then joined the Business School faculty teaching financial accounting. He received tenure in 1972. He is currently the Lovett-Learned Professor of Business Administration.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Harvard Institutions
    
     [Harvard College](/harvard-institutions/harvard-college)
- ## Graduation Year
    
     [1956](/year-graduation/1956)