Curtis William Tarr (September 18, 1924 – June 21, 2013) was an American academic best known for his role in the reform of the Selective Service System—in particular, of the draft lottery, which had been criticized for being insufficiently random.

Tarr served in the United States Army during the Second World War and began his academic career as a lecturer and assistant dean of humanities at Stanford.

He was subsequently promoted to director of the Selective Service System,[1] replacing the controversial[2] Lewis Hershey; historian David L. Schalk has referred to Tarr in this role as an "inoffensive bureaucrat".

After his second phase of government service, Tarr was vice president for management development at Deere & Company, Moline, Illinois, a farm equipment manufacturer, until 1984, when he was selected to be Dean of the Johnson School, succeeding David A.

[4] Tarr was the author of Private Soldier: Life in the Army from 1943–1946 and of numerous articles in professional journals, including Air University Review.