Department of Government

JAY M. PARKER

Dr. Jay M. Parker is Visiting Associate Professor and Chair of International Relations and Security for the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He previously served as a Visiting Associate Professor in Georgetown's Department of Government. Prior to his appointment at Georgetown, he served as Executive Vice President for the Center for the Study of the Presidency. His Center responsibilities included service as an Advisor and the Center's Liaison to the Iraq Study Group (also known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission).

In 2005, Dr. Parker retired from the United States Army in the rank of Colonel after 26 years of active duty service. In his last assignment, he served for more than a decade as Professor of Political and International Affairs and Director of International Relations and National Security Studies, Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy at West Point. As such, he was responsible for managing all aspects of one of the Academy's largest academic majors.

He also chaired the Academy's Scholarship Committee, directing the selection and preparation of candidates for post-graduate programs to include the Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Fulbright, and Gates Scholarships and the East-West Center Fellowship. In addition to his academic leadership responsibilities, he provided analytical support on national security issues to Department of the Army. Dr. Parker's teaching and research areas include American Foreign Policy, International Relations, Security Studies, Mass Media and Politics, Politics and Film, and East Asian Politics and Security. He is the author or editor of numerous publications, to include "Understanding International Relations: The Value of Alternative Lenses" and "Through Alternative Lenses: Current Debates in International Relations."

Dr. Parker is a graduate of the University of Arizona. He earned masters' degrees in political communication and public affairs from Arizona State University, an M.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in international relations from Columbia University. He is a graduate of the Naval War College, and was a Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University's Center of International Studies, and a Japan Society US-Japan Leader Fellow.

A member of the advisory committees for the Museum of Television and Radio Satellite Seminar Series - "Learning From The Last War: The Media and The Military" and "9/11: The Media Responds," Dr. Parker appeared in the Stephen Ives Emmy-nominated PBS documentary Reporting America at War. He is a member of the editorial boards for the journals "Media, War & Conflict," and "Pacific Focus." He is also former chair of the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association and served on Governing Councils of the Foreign Policy, Film and Politics, and International Security and Arms Control Sections of the American Political Science Association. Dr. Parker has served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University and George Washington University, and has lectured at colleges, universities, and policy studies centers in the U.S., Japan, and Great Britain.

Dr. Parker's military service included infantry and special operations command and staff assignments in operational and training units. His previous civilian experience includes service as a congressional aide and as a political campaign consultant. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Board of Directors for CIVIC--Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflicts Worldwide. Dr. Parker is also a Truman National Security Project Fellow and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. Born in Washington, D.C.—where his family roots go back almost 400 years—he has lived and traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States. He and his wife, Ila Corinne Bridges (a retired Colonel in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps), have two children; Kirsten is a political risk analyst, and Jeb is a musician.