LCWA has announced the Fall 2017 LCWA World Affairs Colloquium Series will be held on November 30th. Dr. William J. Parker III will be presenting the lecture in the Wells Fargo Auditorium beginning at 4:00pm.
William J. Parker III, PhD
EastWest Institute
Chief Operating Officer
Dr. William J Parker III is the Chief Operating Officer at the EastWest Institute, a global NGO committed to conflict prevention and resolution with offices in New York, Brussels, Moscow, Istanbul, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Dallas.
An award-winning author, Dr. Parker has published over thirty academic articles and co-authored the book Jihadist Strategic Communication. Additionally, his 2016 book, Guaranteeing America’s Security in the Twenty-First Century, is considered a practitioners’ guide to national security.
Dr. Parker is an accomplished speaker and frequent guest commentator in global media on issues of national security and the global economy. He has addressed the media in more than thirty nations, including such outlets as Fox News, National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, Patriot Radio, Voice of America and other live radio and television shows. He appears in and consulted on the 2016 Discovery Channel documentary Sonic Sea, which was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Nature Documentary.
Known for his ability to explain complicated international issues clearly and concisely and to provide coherent solutions, Dr. Parker has lectured at renowned international venues including the Council on Foreign Relations, the Hague, the International Counter-Terror Symposium at Windsor Castle in London, Columbia University, Tufts University, Columbia Law School, New York University, Harvard University, Bard College, the College of Charleston, the Armed Forces Staff College, the University of Moscow, the Spanish War College, numerous Turkish universities, and other institutions worldwide. Dr. Parker is a featured panelist on Strategic Post Conflict Investment for the 2017 Concordia Global Summit in New York and a guest speaker for Bloomberg Investments in Paris, Istanbul and Colombia in 2017. He is a life member and former Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Parker is a retired senior U.S. naval officer who is a qualified military parachutist and Surface Warfare Officer with a long list of awards, including the Bronze Star, three Legions of Merit and the Department of State Meritorious Honor award. During nearly three decades in uniform, he commanded three warships, and later, a squadron of warships. He was the 2009 recipient of the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership. He served as the Chief of Staff for U.S. Naval Forces and as the U.S. Navy’s Military Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations. In addition to multiple combat tours, he held the post of senior advisor and strategist with U.S. Embassies in Iraq and Pakistan.
Dr. Parker holds a PhD from George Mason University’s Department of Molecular and Microbiology, an MPA from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelor of Science from the United States Air Force Academy, where he was a distinguished military graduate and class president.