Curriculum Vitae
B.A., Classics, University of Notre Dame, 2013; M.A., Classics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2015; Ph.D., Classics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2018; S.T.B., Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, 2021; Adjunct Assistant Teaching Professor, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, 2023-2025; Teacher, St. Thomas More Academy, 2024-2025; Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College, 2025-.
Profile
A high school trip to Greece sparked new tutor Dr. Dale Parker’s interest in antiquity, especially the Greek language. “That trip was a powerful motivator,” he says. “I was blown away by the whole experience.”
He received his undergraduate degree in the classics at the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 2013. He then moved back to his native Southern California to earn his doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The newly dubbed “Dr. Parker” next moved to Rome to study theology at the Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, after which he returned to Notre Dame as a professor. “I found myself in the business school, of all places,” he laughs. “There I was, teaching philosophy and business ethics to students aspiring to work in investment banking, private equity, and trading. I had a bit to learn!”
Interested in teaching at a school he had always admired, Dr. Parker interviewed for a faculty position at Thomas Aquinas College California. “After teaching my test class, I remember walking away, saying, ‘This is the best class I have ever taught,’” he recalls. “The students took the lead and were so responsible in the discussion. I knew it would be enriching for me academically, and now that I am here, I am looking forward to experiencing the College’s curriculum for myself.”
Dr. Parker joined the College’s faculty in 2025, and most enjoys leading the College’s Socratic seminars. “It’s an achievement of the TAC students that they learn this way, because it takes a lot of initiative,” he says. “You actively have to want this method and education for it to work. I am happy to take on this challenge.”
Publications
- “How Talented is A. in the First Book of Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations?” Classical Philology 120.4 (2025): 531-542.
- “The Inconsistency Charge in De Finibus I-II.” Classical Quarterly (2024): 124-134.
- “Plato’s Protagoras as an ἀγὼν λόγων.” Hermes 149.1 (2021): 19-30.
- “The Prologue of the Protagoras as a School of Dialectic.” Ancient Philosophy 41.2 (2021): 291-297.
Papers Presented
- “Aristotelian Refutations in the Protagoras and Gorgias.” Society for Classical Studies 149th Annual Meeting, Boston, 2018.
- “Semantic Development of Hypsos in the Septuagint.” SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, 2017.
- “Pragmatic Disruption: Functional Grammar and Formulae in the Iliad.” Classical Association of the Middle West and South 111th Annual Meeting, Boulder, 2015.