UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Colonel Jake Graham retired from the United States Marine Corps after 26 years of service, and in October 2007, brought his expertise to Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) as a professor of practice. Now, Graham is preparing for a second retirement: his June 30 departure from academia.
Graham is a decorated pilot with operational experience in tactical and strategic warfare. He was a Marine Corps attack helicopter commander, mission commander and Aviation Weapons and Tactics instructor. He served overseas for eight years during his tenure and served a four-year White House flying tour piloting former President George H.W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton.
“We have been so lucky that Jake opted to share his experience and leadership with us,” said Andrea Tapia, dean of the College of IST. “He was critical to the development of our Security and Risk Analysis (SRA) program, which launched shortly before he arrived.”
Graham created several courses for residential and Penn State World Campus instruction, bringing real-world exercises to the classroom. Among them was the Analytic Decision Games (ADG) — a scenario-based simulation focused on team interaction, collaboration and problem solving — that was developed to support the SRA curriculum. The ADGs focused on issues such as terrorist financing, piracy, cybercrime, counterinsurgency, the inter-agency process and life in a post cyber society.
Graham wrote the proposal for and was later director of the Center for Net-Centric Cognition and Information Fusion (NC2IF), which focused on the gap between the collection of reports and data in computer systems and the knowledge and decisions in the minds of computer users. These efforts extended to his leadership of the Red Cell Analytics Lab, which challenges students to think like the enemy through simulated security exercises. The lab was featured on the Big Ten Network’s “Impact the World” series.
“Jake is a passionate educator and student mentor who has helped hundreds of students pursue internships and careers with intelligence agencies, law enforcement and the military through his work with Red Cell and NC2IF,” Tapia said. “He strives to make his material engaging and relevant, emphasizing collaboration, effort and fairness. These qualities made him an exceptional steward of our Academic Integrity Committee, where he established clear and consistent procedures that could be scaled to adapt to IST’s rapid growth.”
Graham has also worked as graduate faculty and as affiliate faculty with the School of International Affairs and the Penn State School of Medicine. He was a faculty mentor for the men’s volleyball team, bringing the Marines’ military leadership development and process to infuse a group of highly performing athletes to become highly performing leaders and citizens.
His innovative teaching practices were recognized with the 2011-12 George J. McMurtry Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award.
“Penn State and the College of IST provided me an indescribable opportunity to apply my military experience,” Graham said. “The SRA program offered me the platform from which to teach, mentor and influence future security leaders. The Red Cell Analytics Lab has become a springboard for numerous students currently serving in the analytic community from law enforcement to intelligence. I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to have had my daughter Meghan in the classroom on three different occasions.”
Graham said he plans to spend his retirement traveling to conduct research for his writing career. His third novel will be published in June, and he has a trilogy in the works.