The Crow’s Nest Newsletter – March 4, 2025

On Feb. 26, Park University President Shane Smeed was announced by the Utah Board of Higher Education as the 19th president of Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah. No start date has been determined by the UBHE. Immediately following the announcement, Terry Calaway, Ed.D., chair of Park University’s Board of Trustees, penned a letter to Park students, faculty and staff.

The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees will make Smeed’s transition the primary agenda item of its meeting on Thursday, March 6, with information about a transition plan shared as it becomes available. Smeed has served Park University as its president since November 2020. He came to Park in September 2015 when he was appointed vice president of enrollment and student services.

Park University announces the promotion of Scott Fergerson to the role of chief financial officer, effective Feb. 2, and the appointment of John Huber as director of corporate development and admissions within the Office of Enrollment Management, effective Jan. 27.

Fergerson became interim CFO in December 2024 after serving the University as chief business officer since July 2022. He joined Park in November 2016 as controller and was promoted to controller and associate vice president of finance in July 2021. As chief financial officer, Fergerson leads the financial operations of the University and is responsible for maintaining financial stability, driving growth initiatives and ensuring Park’s financial operations comply with all relevant regulations and standards.

Huber previously served as the athletic director at Maranatha Christian Academy in Shawnee, Kan., since July 2024. He also spent 13 years (2008-21) as the executive pastor over family ministries at Westside Family Church in Lenexa, Kan., and as director of operations at Single Source Printing in Lenexa since 2001. As director of corporate development and admissions, Huber will establish and maintain strategic relationships between the University and corporate entities, primarily focusing on business development and driving new student enrollment. The position identifies, cultivates and manages partnerships that support Park’s mission of transforming lives through accessible, student-centered, quality higher education. Read more about both Fergerson and Huber at park.edu/news/staff-updates-february-2025.

On Feb. 19, the NAIA announced its 2025 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes for winter sports. To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, appear on the eligibility certificate for their sport and have attended their institution for at least one full year. A total of 15 Park University student-athletes, nine from the Parkville (Mo.) Campus (five men’s basketball and four women’s basketball) and six from the Gilbert (Ariz.) Campus (four women’s basketball and two men’s basketball), earned honors. Find a complete list of the honorees at naia.org/sports/ScholarAthleteAwards/2024-25/winter_SA.

In additional athletics news, Parkville Campus men’s basketball junior F Abubakar Kromah was named first team all-conference in the Heart of America Athletic Conference on Feb. 27. Gilbert Campus women’s basketball junior guard Alynna Palacios was named the Great Southwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, while teammates senior G Savannah Huerta and senior G Kayla Schroeder were selected to the GSAC all-conference team on Jan. 25. That same day, the GSAC also announced its list of winter scholar-athletes, with six Park-Gilbert student-athletes (two men’s basketball and four women’s basketball) earning recognition.

Courtney Wachal, J.D., municipal court presiding judge, Kansas City, Mo., Domestic Violence Court and Wellness Court, will be the featured speaker at Park University’s 3rd annual Women Transforming Criminal Justice event on Wednesday, March 5. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to noon in the Jenkin and Barbara David Theater inside Alumni Hall on the University’s flagship Parkville Campus. The event, which is open to the public, will also be livestreamed at parkumedia.com.

Wachal, who will be accompanied by her domestic violence court team, will share insights into domestic violence programming and engage a panel discussion with experts who will outline their roles in providing domestic violence services. A question-and-answer session will conclude the event. Read more about Wachal and the event at park.edu/news/wtcj-2025.

Park University’s annual Student Research and Creative Arts Symposium showcases the scholarly and creative work of students from all disciplines and campuses across the University. Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit course work or independent research or creative projects developed with a faculty member’s supervision, either single or collaboratively-authored that take the form of: posters presenting laboratory or other applied research findings; research papers and oral presentations (oral presentations limited to 10 minutes); visual art and graphic design installations; musical presentations; and virtual presentations (slide or video presentations uploaded to Symposium website).

This year’s Symposium will be held Monday-Tuesday, April 21-22, in Park Avenue (within the Mabee Learning Center/Academic Underground) and McCoy Meetin’ House on the University’s flagship Parkville (Mo.) Campus. For more information or to register (deadline is Friday, April 11), visit park.edu/academics/honors-academy/student-research-creative-arts-symposium or contact Joshua Mugg, Ph.D., director of the Honors Academy and associate professor of philosophy, at jmugg@park.edu.

A pair of internationally renowned musicians — violinist David Radzynski and pianist Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich — will perform in concert on Friday, March 14, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the 1900 Building in Mission Woods, Kan. Tickets for the concert (before fees), part of the Park University International Center for Music’s 2024-25 concert season, are $30 for the general public and $10 for students, and are available in advance through Eventbrite.

Radzynski, who earned a graduate certificate in music performance/violin from the Park ICM in 2014 under the tutelage of Ben Sayevich, served as the concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra from 2015-22, as well as the Cleveland Orchestra from 2022-24. Lisovskaya-Sayevich, who was born into a musical family in Uzbekistan, came to Park University in 2006 to study under legendary pianist and Park ICM founder/artistic director Stanislav Ioudenitch, earning a graduate certificate in applied music/piano 2008. That same year, she was hired as the ICM’s collaborative pianist and now serves as the director of collaborative piano. Read more about the concert at park.edu/news/david-lolita-2025-concert.

The next concert in the International Center for Music’s 2024-25 season will be the ICM Orchestra’s season finale performance on Friday, April 25, starting at 7:30 p.m. in Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel on the University’s flagship Parkville Campus. The concert will feature guest conductor Barbara Yahr, music director of the Greenwich Village Orchestra in New York. For more information about this concert, visit icm.park.edu/park-icm-orchestra-season-finale. Admission to ICM Orchestra concerts in the Chapel are free, but attendees are asked to RSVP in advance.

In addition, two Park ICM students, cellist Nikita Korzukhin and pianist Ali Mammadoff, will perform a recital on Thursday, March 27, starting at 7 p.m. in Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel. Admission to the concert, which was rescheduled from Feb. 12, is free and open to the public.

Park University’s Ellen Finley Earhart Department of Nursing recently entered into an agreement with Veterans Community Project, a Missouri nonprofit organization that provides temporary housing and other strategic support services to veterans facing homelessness. The partnership, which continues through January 2026, provides senior nursing students in the NUR 410 (Community Health) course experience in providing health checks, health education and guidance on managing chronic illnesses that may be present in the VCP’s resident population. One of the co-founders of VCP is Kevin Jamison, a 2014 Park graduate.

Nola Martz, Ed.D., assistant teaching professor of nursing, said “This is the epitome of what public health and community health are: assessing a population for needs, investigating evidence-based interventions to improve health outcomes and offering support to vulnerable and underserved populations. Given the commitment to veterans that Park University already has in the educational realm, we are extremely excited and proud that these nursing students will be able to represent the University in serving these former servicemembers at a time when they need it most.”

Ilkhom Mukhiddinov, ’23, and a current violin graduate student in Park University’s International Center for Music, was recently appointed to the first violin section of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Mukhiddinov has won acclaim for his high professionalism and extraordinary technical abilities, offering fresh interpretations of standard and contemporary repertoire. Read more at park.edu/news/mukhiddinov-pso.

Gini Fite, adjunct instructor of sport and exercise science, was recently honored by the Missouri Athletic Trainers’ Association as its Athletic Trainer of the Year. The award is presented to a Missouri athletic trainer “whose performance or contributions to the profession have been noticeably significant throughout the year. The award is intended to recognize a single effort or a series of actions over the course of a year that benefited the membership of MoATA or beyond, and has positively influenced the health care provided by athletic trainers in Missouri. Fite serves as the lead athletic trainer for the Smithville (Mo.) School District. A story about Fite’s award appeared in the Liberty (Mo.) Courier-Tribune on Feb. 13.

Amber Dailey-Hebert, Ph.D., director of the Faculty Center for Innovation and professor of organizational leadership and adult learning, co-authored “Understanding the Complexity of Centers for Teaching and Learning: Introducing a Four-Dimensional Model” that was published Jan. 29 in Higher Education, an international journal of higher education research. Daily-Hebert and her co-authors sought to unearth a framework that could be universally applied to understanding CTL work and functionality by creating an integrative approach that brings together organizational, behavioral and relational perspectives. The four dimensions — governance, identity, social capital and activities — enabled an investigation of CTLs from various angles and at different levels, providing valuable clues for understanding CTL performance and challenges.

Jack MacLennan, Ph.D., senior director of strategic initiatives and communications, and special assistant to the president for governance, authored a chapter on “Teaching Online ‘Finding a Way Through Assessment Mirages: Teaching IR as a Toolset Online’” that was published in The Palgrave Handbook on the Pedagogy of International Relations Theory on Feb. 12. The chapter argues that attending to the ways online instruction contributes to assessment mirages yields lessons for teaching across modalities and within a post-generative artificial intelligence academy.

Alla Adams, Ph.D., associate professor of healthcare administration, served as the moderator for a virtual Healthcare Administration Internship Panel for the American College of Healthcare Executives Southeast Texas Chapter on Feb. 21.

A story that focused on Sudhindra Bose, who studied at what was then Park College in the early 1900s, appeared in Scroll, a digital news publication based in India on Feb. 5. Bose argued before U.S. Congress in favor of naturalizing Asians.

Matt Harris, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, was interviewed for stories that aired on KMBZ-FM in Kansas City on Feb. 11 related to Missouri lawmakers efforts to water down the minimum wage law passed by voters in November 2024. On Feb. 19, Harris was again interviewed by KMBZ-FM for stories on the Missouri legislature a month in to the current session.

Harris was interviewed for stories that aired on KMBC-TV in Kansas City on Feb. 24 related to a town hall in Belton, Mo., that turned into chaos with the announcements of federal layoffs. The next day (Feb. 25), Harris was interviewed for stories that aired on KCTV in Kansas City related to the federal layoffs.

Nikki Pauls DeSimone, assistant professor of social work, provided comments for an opinion article that appeared in the Kansas City Star on Feb. 12 about snow day policies for local school districts.

Melanie Clouser, ’09, was featured in Kansas City magazine on Feb. 17. The article focused on the eclectic 1921 Craftsman house she and her husband own in the Valentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Mo.

Stephen Cox, ’88, and 2009 Distinguished Alumnus Award honoree, appeared on “The Frank and Jill Show” that aired on KTRS-AM in St. Louis on Feb. 17 (starts at approximately 25:45). Cox has authored more than 20 books on popular culture, film and television.

Tim Westcott, Ph.D., professor of history and associate university archivist, was interviewed for stories that aired on KSHB-TV in Kansas City on Feb. 19-20 related to the “Battle of Parkville” and the 83rd anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Joshua Mugg, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy and director of the Honors Academy, was interviewed for a story that aired on KCTV in Kansas City on Feb. 20. The story focused on the use of artificial intelligence in an “Unfinished Legacies” campaign in Kansas City, Mo., to “bring back to life” individuals who died because of a fentanyl overdose.

David Chesher, senior director of technology, provided a list of tips and simple steps that people can reference for a story that aired on WDAF-TV in Kansas City on Feb. 25 related to a recent influx of scam phone calls, especially those targeting family members of inmates in Leavenworth County, Kan.

Students from Park University’s International Center for Music performed live on Kansas Public Radio’s “Classical Music in the Morning” on Feb. 26 as part of a promotion for the Stanislav & Friends concert on March 1. Cellist Nikita Korzhukhin, graduate student, and violinist Mumin Turgunov, senior music performance/violin major, were accompanied separately by pianist Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich, ICM director of collaborative piano, and pianist Ilya Shmukler, graduate student, also performed. In addition, Gus Fernandez Agreda, ICM coordinator, provided comments during the segment.

Stories related to President Shane Smeed being appointed president at Utah Tech University appeared in numerous media outlets Feb. 26-27 in Salt Lake City, St. George, Utah, and Kansas City, including: KSL-TV (Salt Lake City); KSTU-TV (Salt Lake City); Salt Lake (City) Tribune; Sun News Daily (Utah Tech); St. George News; KCTV (Kansas City), KSHB-TV (Kansas City); Kansas City Business Journal; and Deseret News.

A story about Jordan DeNovellis, a senior at Sidney (Neb.) High School, signing a letter-of-intent to play women’s basketball at Park University Gilbert (Ariz.) Campus appeared in the Sidney Sun-Telegraph on Feb. 27.

A story about Kody Petersen, ’24, being appointed as the veterans initiatives manager with the Branson (Mo.) Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau appeared in the Branson Globe on Feb. 27.

          •  April 25 — International Center for Music Concert: ICM Orchestra with Guest Conductor Barbara Yahr, 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel

To view a comprehensive schedule for all events, including athletics and student life, visit park.edu/calendars/park-events-calendar.