History professor will deliver commencement address

COLUMBUS – Historian Geoffrey Parker, the Andreas Dorpalen Professor of History at The Ohio State University, has been selected to deliver the winter quarter commencement address to approximately 1,400 graduates on March 21.
Parker, an expert on European and military history, holds a joint appointment at the Mershon Center, Ohio State’s center for interdisciplinary study of international security and public policy.

In his address, Parker plans to focus on the theme, “The Greatest Gift an Education Gives is Perspective,” and how it applies to private, public and finally international affairs.

Parker says he felt inspired when he found that expression in “Convicted in the Womb,” the autobiography of Carl Upchurch.
“Upchurch is a black former gang member who discovered this truth in prison,” says Parker. “He now lives here in Columbus and works tirelessly to help others. I hope to convey that investing an irrationally large amount of effort to help others, even though it apparently offers no benefit to the giver, often produces the finest fruit.”

A native of Nottingham, England, Parker earned his B.A., degree from Cambridge University in 1965, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Cambridge in 1968. He received a Litt.D. degree from Cambridge in 1981 and an honorary Litt. D. from the University of Brussels in 1990 for his publications in European history.

Before joining the Ohio State faculty in 1997, Parker taught at Yale University, the University of Illinois, the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

The winter quarter commencement speaker is traditionally a member of the faculty. Ohio State Provost Ed Ray, the university's chief academic officer, says Parker will represent the faculty well.

“Professor Parker is an outstanding choice for commencement speaker,” said Ray. He is a remarkable scholar and teacher who cares deeply about students realizing their potential. I know that he will speak for his faculty colleagues with eloquence and that his message will be timely and meaningful to our students.”

Parker has published widely on the social, political and military history of Europe. In all, he has written, edited or co-edited 31 books and 80 articles. Probably his best-known book is “The Military Revolution. Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500-1800.” That book, now in its third edition, has won two prizes and has been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese. Parker’s biography of Philip II of Spain is also in its third edition with translations into Spanish, Czech, Dutch, Italian and Polish.

Parker is the recipient of many honors. In 1984 he became a Fellow of the British Academy, the highest honor open to scholars in the Humanities in Great Britain, and in 1992 the King of Spain made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic in recognition of his work on Spanish history. He has also delivered nearly 250 lectures around the world.

He is currently writing a narrative and analytical history entitled “The World Crisis, 1635-1665,” concerning the climatically induced crisis that created acute political, economic, intellectual and social upheaval in most parts of the globe in the mid-17th century. He hopes that his study will help inform the current debate on the consequences for human society of sudden climatic change and thus provide a new perspective on current concerns about global warming.