Richard Vela has a Ph.D. from UNC, Chapel Hill dissertation, “Obscure Design: A Study of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline” and a BA and MA from the University of Dallas thesis, “The Merchant of Venice and the True Bond of Comedy”. His areas of expertise are Shakespeare, Film, Latino Literature, Early Modern Literature, and Contemporary Literature. He has taught at Pembroke since January 1971 and has presented over 140 conference papers, 90 on Shakespeare and film.
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Publications include co-authoring Shakespeare into Film 2002, the Shakespeare articles in The Encyclopedia of Orson Welles 2003, “Apocalyptic Spaces in Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet” in Apocalyptic Shakespeare 2009, “John Huston’s Mexico” in John Huston 2010, “Sicarios and the Latin American Assassin” in The Politics and Ethics of Adaptation 2021, and a total of 40 articles and reviews published in journals, including, "Daughter of Invention: The Poetry of Julia Alvarez" Postscript 1999, and “Shakespeare, Hollywood, and Mexico: The Cantinflas Romeo y Julieta” LFQ 2002. He has chaired Shakespeare on Film and Television for the PCAACA since 2011, following six years at the SWPACA. His awards include the North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence, the Adolph L. Dial Faculty Award for Scholarship and Creativity, the University Outstanding Teacher Award, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Society, as well as The Danforth Foundation Fellowship, and the Ford Foundation Fellowship. In 2002, he had an NEH fellowship to attend a five-week institute, “Shakespeare’s Stages: Inside and Out,” with work at the Blackfriars in Staunton, VA, and Shakespeare's Globe in London. He also participated in the Royal Shakespeare Company Teacher Workshop at Davidson College and attended the Sewanee Writers Conference.
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