UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — William Parquette, professor of practice in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), was recently named the recipient of the college’s 2022-23 George McMurtry Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award.
Established in 2002, the McMurtry Award is given annually to a tenure-track or full-time fixed term IST faculty member at the University Park campus. Funded by George McMurtry, one of the founders of IST and former associate dean of the College of Engineering, the award celebrates faculty who demonstrate innovative teaching methods, a commitment to student learning and creative interaction with students.
“The award took me completely by surprise, and I am honored by this recognition,” said Parquette. “Consistently providing an exceptional learning environment for students is something I try to achieve every day through exercises that promote learning and incorporate team-based problem solving.”
The McMurtry Award was presented to Parquette in part for positive student feedback as demonstrated through his high Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTE) scores. He teaches a variety of courses in the college’s security and risk analysis program and draws from his 45 years of experience working and educating in national intelligence to keep the curriculum up to date and relevant. In Parquette’s classes, students are presented with real-world problems and work in teams to conduct analysis, present arguments and generate briefs as they collaborate to solve them.
Parquette is former chairman of the Foreign Denial and Deception Committee of the National Intelligence Council in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He served as a full-time faculty member at National Intelligence University for 13 years. He is an expert in strategic intelligence, denial and deception operations, planning, analysis and collection as an operator, educator and senior policy advisor. He is well-versed in the sources of foreign knowledge, adversarial reasoning, information security and management as it pertains to issues in the government and of the intelligence community.
He retired as lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Army following 22 years of active service and earning the Legion of Merit. He served in the Gulf War’s 3rd Armored Division, The Research and Analysis Center of the U.S. Army, and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, among other units.
While Parquette enjoys teaching at all levels and watching students grow within their academic careers as they near graduation, he said he is motivated most by the program’s newest students.
“SRA 111, Introduction to Security and Risk Analysis, is filled with mostly first-year students who are new to the University and the college,” said Parquette. “I find it a welcoming challenge to try to reach the first-year students who are experiencing college for the first time and in a lecture hall with a number of other students. It’s fun to try to keep them engaged.”
Ronan Berger, a senior in the security and risk analysis program, was a first-year student in Parquette’s introductory course in 2019 and currently serves as a learning assistant for one of its sections. Berger has also taken two upper-level courses with Parquette.
“Professor Parquette really stands out because of his vast experience prior to working as an instructor,” said Berger. “He does an excellent job at relating his coursework back to his experiences in the real world. As a student who wants to pursue a career similar to what Professor Parquette had, I’m constantly learning from him what it will take for me to be successful.”
Parquette particularly enjoys interactions with students, many of whom ask him to provide letters of recommendation as they apply to internships and full-time positions. Not only does Parquette support the students’ requests, he also provides them with another real-world opportunity.
“Students who ask me for a reference must send me an updated copy of their resume, and I then conduct an interview with them asking them to explain the job they want and why they’re qualified,” he said. “Having been a hiring manager for the U.S. intelligence community and also having been on both sides of the interview table, I think this helps students.”
Mock interviews and professional recommendations are just one part of the lasting impact that Parquette hopes to make on his students.
"I want students to know that learning can be fun, and you are more capable than you think,” he said. “I hope that I am stressing the importance of always looking ahead and using today to prepare yourself for the future.”
As part of his recognition, Parquette will present the annual McMurtry Award Lecture at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in E202 Westgate Building on Penn State’s University Park campus. The event is free and open to the public. Additional details will be available at ist.psu.edu closer to the lecture date.