Jay M. Parker, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of International Security Studies
Education
• M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia University
• M.A., U.S. Naval War College
• M.A.I.R., University of Southern California (Munich)
• M.A., M.P.A., Arizona State University
• B.A., University of Arizona
Research Interests
• National Security Education
• East Asian Politics
• Presidential Decision Making
• Civil-Military Relations
• Politics and Film
Jay M. Parker, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of International Security Studies in the College of International Security Affairs. Prior to joining CISA, Parker was Visiting Associate Professor in Georgetown University’s Department of Government, and Interim Chair of International Relations and Security for Georgetown's Master of Science in Foreign Service program.
Following undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona, Parker served on the staff of Congressman Morris K. Udall (D-Ariz.). He returned to Arizona to work as a political media consultant while completing a Master of Arts in Political Communication, and Master of Public Administration at Arizona State University (ASU). An ASU Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Distinguished Military Graduate, Dr. Parker was commissioned as an Infantry Officer in 1979 and served in Wiesbaden, Germany as a platoon leader, company executive officer, brigade training officer, and company commander. In 1985, he was selected as a Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Doctoral Fellow. He earned a doctorate in international relations from Columbia University in New York City. From 1988 to 1991, he served in the Department of Social Sciences of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as an instructor and assistant professor of American and comparative politics.
Parker was next assigned to the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, NC. He commanded the U.S. Army’s only Psychological Operations (Psyop) training company, with responsibility for redesigning Psyop training, and revising the Army Field Manuals on Psychological Operations. He then served as S-3 (operations office) for the Army’s only Airborne, Tactical, Psyop Battalion.
After graduation from the U.S. Naval War College in 1994, Parker returned to West Point as a member of the senior faculty, serving as Director of International Relations and Security Studies and Professor of Public and International Affairs. As such, he supervised one of the Academy’s largest academic majors and provided analytical support for Department of the Army. He also served as Chair of Academy Scholarship Committee, overseeing the selection and preparation of candidates for the Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, and other post-graduate Scholarships.
A former member of advisory committees for the Museum of Television and Radio, he appeared in the Emmy nominated documentary “Reporting America at War.” Parker serves on the editorial boards of the journals Pacific Focus, and Media, War, and Conflict. As a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he initiated and conducted the Council’s Classic Foreign Policy Films Series. In 1995, Parker was selected as a Japan Society Leadership Fellow and conducted research in Japan on culture and national security. He has published and presented works on a wide range of topics including international relations, national security education, East Asian politics, presidential decision making, civil-military relations, mass media and politics, and politics and film.
Parker retired from active duty in 2005 in the rank of Colonel. He then served as Executive Vice President of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and Advisor and Center Liaison to the Iraq Study Group (the Baker-Hamilton Commission) before joining the Georgetown faculty. He has served as Adjunct Associate Professor at both Columbia and George Washington Universities, and he is a former Visiting Fellow at Princeton University’s Center of International Studies,
Parker is former chair of the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association (ISA), and he currently chairs the ISA standing committee on professional development. He was a member of the Defense Policy Team and the Veterans advisory group for the Obama Presidential Campaign, and served on the Presidential Transition. Parker currently serves on the board of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict and is a Truman National Security Project Fellow.
