Parkman, Ralph
Date Updated
8-12-2019
Department
Materials Engineering
Academic Rank
Professor
Year Retired from SJSU
1985
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Educational Background
Stanford University, Metallurgical Engineering, 1952 Ph.D.
Stanford University, Metallurgical Engineering, 1949 M.S.
University of Pittsburgh, Metallurgical Engineering, 1941 B.S.
Teaching Experience
San Jose State University, 1954-1985
University of Hawaii, Visiting Professor, 1964 & 1971 spring
U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (Visiting Professor), 1962 summer
Stanford University, 1951-1954
Administrative and Professional Experience
Metallurgist, Crucible Steel Co. of America, 1941‑1944
U.S. Navy, 1944‑1946 (saw service in Philippine Islands)
Sturdivant Metal Products (electro-metallurgy), Chem. Metallurgist, 1946‑1947
Selected Publications
The Cybernetic Society, Pergamon Press, 396 pp.1972.
Report. Cybernation and Man. U.S. Office of Education. 1961.
Various papers on high temperature properties of materials. 1948-1954.
Files
Personal Commentary
Honors and activities are:
Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, 1970;
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Professor of the Year Award, Fall‑Spring, 1983‑84;
Founding Chairman, Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Society for Materials International; Department Chairman, 1967‑69.
My post‑retirement activities have been the usual travel, volunteer work, hiking, playing with the grandchildren and weekly ping‑pong.
Date Completed: 6/96
Adapted from: Biographies of Retired Faculty San Jose State University 1997: A Project of the Emeritus Faculty Association of San Jose State University. San Jose, CA: The University, 1997.
In 1954, I came to San José State and soon began collaborating with the late Professor Jim Anderson in developing what would eventually become the first nationally accredited Metallurgical (later Materials) Engineering department in the, then, California State College system. I was Chairman during the 1960s. In the middle 1960s I joined with the late Dean of Engineering, Norman Gunderson, and the late Professor Edward Dionne in developing an interdisciplinary course, "Cybernation and Man," which examined the effects of the emerging information technologies on society. I wrote a textbook for the course, entitled The Cybernetic Society. The course was popular and out of it grew the interdisciplinary Cybernetic System Master's program. This program was taught by professors from a number of departments across campus, and for many years introduced students to problems of and potential strategies for a complex technological society.
Date Updated:November 2009