Parker, Steven

Steven Parker grew up and went to school in Connecticut. His only sibling was finishing a post doctorate at Yale and had accepted a job at one of the California State schools when his life was tragically ended through suicide. Parker graduated from Assumption College in Massachusetts with a bachelor's in political science and got a scholarship to the State University of New York at Albany. About halfway through his Master of Public Administration degree, the dean encouraged him to go on for his doctorate.

He finished his PhD and got a job at Western Illinois University which he started on September 15, 1971, the same day his son was born. After 8 years (and another child) in Illinois, Parker and his wife were ready to leave. He had attended a public administration conference in Baltimore, Maryland in the spring of 1975, and was interviewed by Dina Titus and Tom Wright of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He had several other job offers, but UNLV looked like the best possibility, so he and his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dr. Parker's title at UNLV was associate professor and department chair, although Dina Titus actually chaired the department his first semester there. He took over as chair in the spring of 1980. He started when Brock Dixon was interim chair, and has served under university presidents Leonard "Pat" Goodall, Bob Maxson, and Carol Harter. Dr. Parker taught American Presidency and American government every semester, Natural Resource Policy and Political Corruption and Political Ethics once or twice a year, and occasionally taught Urban Government. He was also the director of the University Forum Lecture Series.