Don has retired five times, starting in 1993. He first retired from the University of California, San Diego, where he founded the Cognitive Science Department. He then joined Apple as an Apple Fellow and became the UX Architect of a three-person team called the "User Experience Office." (This was the first use of the term "User Experience" in a job title. It wasn't called "UX" yet.) His fifth retirement was in 2020, again from UC San Diego, where he established the Design Lab. His other retirements include co-director of the MMM dual degree program at Northwestern University, combining an MBA and an engineering degree with a focus on design.
He is a cofounder of CHI and received its lifetime achievement award, a fellow of numerous societies such as ACM, Human Factors and Ergonomics, Design Research Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), in the Engineering division.
Today he is an active board member at NN/g as well as a member of the nonprofit charity The Don Norman Design Award and Summit. He is only 88 years old, so he looks forward to many more activities.
