Peter Parolin
Dean of Honors
I have served as Dean of the University of Wyoming Honors College since 2019; I am
also Professor of English and past Head of the UW English Department. I earned my
BA from the University of British Columbia (1988), and my MA and PhD from the University
of Pennsylvania (1997).
As a scholar, I am the co-editor (with Pamela Allen Brown) of Women Players in England, 1500-1660: Beyond the All-Male Stage (Ashgate, 2005) and the editor of a 2012 special topics issue of Early Theatre on Renaissance women performers. I am also the author of scholarly articles on subjects
including Shakespeare, Renaissance food cultures, the Stratford Festival of Canada,
and Honors education.
Teaching is another important part of my career and a life-long passion. As a teacher,
my classes include Honors Colloquium I and II, Political Theatre, English Literature
surveys, several courses on Shakespeare, and the honors methods course, Producing
Knowledge: Analysis, Creativity, and Expression. I also regularly teach a study abroad
class, Shakespeare in England and Italy, offered for three weeks in May and June.
I started this class with former Honors director Duncan Harris in 2003 and I now teach
it with Honors associate dean emeritus, Leigh Selting – it is a joy to experience
the English and Italian settings of Shakespeare in the company of amazing UW students.
For my teaching, I have received multiple UW awards, including the Beatrice Gallatin
Beuf Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence in Freshman-Level Courses, seven Arts
and Sciences Top Ten Teacher Awards, five Honors College teaching awards, two PIE
awards for Promoting Intellectual Engagement, and the John P. Ellbogen Award for Meritorious
Classroom Teaching.
Beyond my teaching and scholarship, I love acting. I have appeared in dozens of local
and university stage productions, with my favorite roles including Rothko in Red, David in I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard, Danforth in The Crucible, Holofernes in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Len in Book of Days, and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.
My engagement with theatre extends to my role as director of the Stratford Seminar
Society, which runs an annual immersive week of theatre every summer at the Stratford
Festival of Canada, North America’s largest classical repertory theatre. I am very
grateful to the Honors College for making it financially possible, over the years,
for UW honors students to participate in my seminars in Canada.
As dean of Honors, I am committed to a transformational educational experience for
all honors students. What does a transformational educational experience mean to me?
It means stimulating interdisciplinary classes at the frontiers of knowledge; real-world
opportunities for growth, such as paid internships; revelatory study abroad opportunities;
independent research and creative projects that set students apart; leadership and
engagement opportunities that allow students to take advantage of UW’s outstanding
resources; generous funding that supports students’ dreams; and a nurturing environment
in which students feel seen, heard, and known for who they are.
Honors students are brilliant in so many ways and they want to make a positive difference
in the world. They give me hope for the future, and it is a huge privilege to get
to know them and advocate for them every day at the University of Wyoming.
