He received a Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting in 1987 for his coverage of South Africa. He worked as the editor of the Los Angeles Times for three years and helped launch the “Reading by 9” program to help children read at grade level. Parks has been a member of the USC community since 2000 and was director of the Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism from 2002 until 2008. He was appointed interim director at Annenberg in June of 2013.