Ralph Parkman was born in Cornwall, England, in 1920. He earned a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 1941, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in the same field from Stanford University in 1949 and 1952 respectively. In between his undergraduate and graduate degrees (1944-1946), he served in the U.S. Navy. Dr. Parkman taught at Stanford University from 1952-1954 before joining the San José State College faculty in September of 1954.

Professor Parkman was instrumental in creating the Materials Engineering program at San José State. The original program, called Engineering Metallurgy, was introduced in 1957. He chaired the program during the 1960s. In 1965, Professor Parkman worked closely with the dean of engineering, Norman Gunderson, to launch Cybernation and Man, a new course which examined the effects of technology on society. Professor Parkman wrote the textbook for the course, The Cybernetic Society, published in 1972, and was a major contributor to the Cybernetic Systems master's program that grew out of the original class. During his career, Dr. Parkman also held visiting professor positions at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (1962) and the University of Hawaii (1964 and 1971). He retired from San José State University in 1985.