Jay Parkes, PhD

Dr. Parkes is the Associate Dean for Student Success. As an Associate Dean, he works with student recruitment, student advising & retention, enrollment, college-branch campus relations, and college communications.

Dr. Parkes, whose parents were public school teachers, was born and raised in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. He completed his undergraduate work in English Education at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After teaching secondary English in Pennsylvania for a little over a year, he continued his studies at the Pennsylvania State University. While pursuing his Master’s and Doctoral Degrees in Educational Psychology at PSU, his interests evolved from how people learn to assessment of learning before crystalizing into the idea that assessment is a cognitive act.

In 1998, Dr. Parkes moved to New Mexico to be an assistant professor of educational psychology here at COEHS. Dr. Parkes’ recent scholarly work has focused on helping college instructors design better assessments. This work has led to collaborations with faculty at UNM, including the School of Medicine, and other institutions, such as Northern New Mexico College.

Since arriving in New Mexico, Dr. Parkes has allied and worked with dual language educators in the state. He has worked with the nonprofit Dual Language Education of New Mexico, both formally as a board member and informally in other roles. Dr. Parkes contributed to early drafts of what are now the Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education; hosted a dual language researchers’ convocation to identify key research questions in the field; and worked with a consortium of dual language elementary schools in Albuquerque to do a survey of families.

Outside of his scholarly work, Dr. Parkes works hard to be a good dad and husband. He keeps his household moving while his wife and children are out and about. One of his hobbies is preparing meals for his family and mastering New Mexican dishes is an ongoing goal. He has red chile, green chile, enchiladas, and posole recipes that his whole family enjoys. He's on his way to mastering New Mexican cuisine!

Coming from Pennsylvania and living in Santa Fe, Dr. Parkes truly appreciates the way snow visits but doesn't stay long. Santa Fe is warm but not too hot in the summer and cool but not too cold in the winter. He loves sunshine most days and treasures the cultural and historical richness of New Mexico.

Dr. Parkes’ likes to read history and biographies.

Recent Publications

• The College Classroom Assessment Compendium: A Practical Guide to the College Instructor’s Daily Assessment Life
• Learning and Assessing with Multiple-Choice Questions in College Classrooms