Dr. Stalker received his B. S. and M. S. degrees in Agronomy from the University of Arizona in 1971 and 1972, respectively. He received a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Illinois in 1977 and was a research associate at N. C. State University for 2 years prior to being appointed as an Assistant Professor in 1979 to work in peanut cytogenetics and interspecific hybridization. He was promoted to Professor in 1989.

During the past 27 years he has traveled in South America, Asia, and Africa to collect plant genetic resources and to improve peanut production as part of a USAID international cooperative support program. His principal responsibilities have been to preserve wild peanut germplasm and to incorporate useful genes from the Arachis species into the cultivated peanut.