Patricia Parker

Patricia Parker serves as the Margery Bailey Professor in the Department of English and Dramatic Literature at Stanford University, holding a permanent faculty position since 1988 after initial appointment as a Visiting Professor in 1986. Her academic journey spans global institutions including the University of Toronto (11 years), University of East Africa, UC Berkeley (as Visiting Professor), and Cornell University's School of Criticism and Theory.

Her educational background features:

• Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, Yale University (1976)
• M.A. in English, University of Toronto (1968)
• B.A., University of Manitoba (1967)

Professor Parker's research pioneers intersections of Shakespeare studies, early modern literature, feminism, and race theory, with particular focus on global receptions of Shakespeare and decolonial approaches to Renaissance texts. Her scholarship consistently bridges literary criticism, cultural studies, and postcolonial theory, examining marginalized perspectives through frameworks of rhetoric, gender, and property relations across historical contexts.

Her publication trajectory reveals evolving critical engagement: early foundational work on poetic modes (Inescapable Romance, 1979) expanded into theoretical explorations of gender and rhetoric (Literary Fat Ladies, 1987), culminating in groundbreaking race studies (Shakespeare from the Margins, 1996) and contemporary critical keyword analysis (Shakespearean Intersections, 2018). Her edited collections consistently shape discourse around Shakespearean theory and early modern women's writing.

Her scholarly distinction includes:

• Margery Bailey Professorship at Stanford University
• Gauss Seminar Lecturer at Princeton
• Shakespeare's Birthday Lecturer at Folger Shakespeare Library
• Northrop Frye Professor Lecturer at University of Toronto
• Paul Gottschalk Lecturer at Cornell University

Professor Parker actively mentors graduate students through community performance programs and directed the major 2003-4 international conference 'Shakespeare in Asia,' demonstrating sustained grant acquisition for cross-cultural scholarly initiatives. She currently serves as General Editor for the Stanford Global Shakespeare Encyclopedia, a significant digital humanities project.

Her ongoing work integrates classroom teaching with global community engagement through performance-based programs examining Shakespeare's transnational legacy.