James A. Parr

Born in West Virginia, James Allan Parr grew up in rural Ohio. He was a squad leader/acting sergeant in Army basic training at 17, chief clerk of a large administrative motor pool in France at 19, and full professor and chair of Modern Languages at Murray State University at 27. After 20 years at the University of Southern California, then 25 at the University of California, Riverside, he retired as distinguished professor in 2015. Director of 3 NDEA Institutes, 12 summer sessions in Spain, and 28 Ph.D. dissertations, he was also a Fulbright lecturer in Argentina and Uruguay and a visiting Eminent Scholar in the Humanities at Alabama, Huntsville. Editor of vols. 25-50 of the Bulletin of the Comediantes and past president of the Cervantes Society of America and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, a book of essays on Cervantes was dedicated to him in Germany in 2005, followed by the presentation of a homage volume at MLA/CSA in 2006. He enjoys retirement with his wife Patricia, as well as the company of their three daughters and six grandkids.