Donald Nathan Levine (June 16, 1931 – April 4, 2015) was an American sociologist, educator, social theorist and writer at the University of Chicago, where he served as Dean of the College.

During his postdoctoral fellowship, he spent three years in Ethiopia, which included teaching courses at University College of Addis Ababa.

[3] Throughout his career, Levine remained engaged with four primary areas of work: undergraduate education, sociological theory, Ethiopian Studies, and the Japanese martial art of aikido.

As chair of the staff of the Social Sciences 121-2-3 sequence in the 1960s, he reorganized the yearlong course into its current form as Self, Culture & Society.

Levine also created novel courses of his own, some described in his 2005 book, Powers of the Mind: The Reinvention of Liberal Learning in America, which focuses on Chicago’s distinctive traditions of higher education.

Levine eventually received a Doctor of Letters honoris causa in 2004 from Addis Ababa University, where his citation read: "Ethiopianist, sociological theorist, educator: you have succeeded in all three vocations.

Greater Ethiopia draws attention to the deep fact that Ethiopian life is rooted in multicultural identities, and it also demonstrates the salient bonds that hold them together."

The course helps students to understand and manage social conflict by combining texts from a number of disciplines with regular training in aikido’s aggression-neutralizing techniques.

He was founding president of Aiki Extensions Inc., a non-profit organization that networks and supports individuals involved with “off-the-mat” aikido applications.