Faculty Biography

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Jay M. Parker

Associate Professorial Lecturer - Politics and Film (PMGT 265.14)
Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Presidency

Dr. Jay M. Parker is a Visiting Associate Professor in Georgetown University's Department of Government, an Adjunct Associate Professor in the graduate school faculties at Columbia University and George Washington University, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency. Prior to his appointment at Georgetown, he served as the Center's Executive Vice President and 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, Politics and Film, and American Politics.  He is the author or editor of numerous publications, to include Understanding International Relations: The Value of Alternative Lenses.

Dr. Parker served as 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."  He has given numerous guest lectures on the topic of politics and film and appeared in the Stephen Ives PBS Documentary Reporting America at War.  He developed and conducted the Classic Foreign Policy Films Series for the Council on Foreign Relations, and taught undergraduate and graduate seminars on film and politics at West Point, and at Georgetown, and George Washington Universities.  Dr. Parker served two terms on the Governing Board of the Politics and Film Conference Group of the American Political Science Association, and was recently appointed to the editorial board of the journal Media, War, and Conflict.  He is also former chair of the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association and is on the Governing Councils of the Foreign Policy and the International Security and Arms Control Sections of the American Political Science Association.

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Dr. Parker 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.  He has lectured at numerous universities, colleges, and policy organizations in the United States, Europe, and Japan.