Park University Announces Top 10 Events, Stories from 2023
January 19, 2024 鈥� Park University celebrated another noteworthy year in 2023 as the University and its students, employees and alumni garnered national media attention, and earned international, national and local honors.
笔补谤办鈥檚 compiled the University鈥檚 biggest events and stories of the year, and asked three members of the University鈥檚 staff and two Kansas City public relations professionals to pick their top 10 moments from 2023. The voting was extremely tight as only two of the 29 events/stories on the poll were named on all five ballots and two others appeared on four ballots. In fact, 25 of the 29 events/stories were named on at least one ballot.
Here are the top 10 Park University stories/events from 2023:
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 1. — The release of the blockbuster biographical film 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� over the summer put Park University and its in the spotlight in Kansas City region news outlets in late July and early August. Three Park University alumni were connected to the Manhattan Project 鈥� a research and development program in World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons 鈥� a main feature in 鈥淥ppenheimer.鈥� Joseph McKibben, 鈥�33, Ph.D., Hugh Richards, 鈥�39, Ph.D., and John Cory, 鈥�42, participated in the Manhattan Project, two of whom played significant roles.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 2. — Park University鈥檚 flagship Parkville (Mo.) Campus, and specifically, iconic Mackay Hall, was the . Mackay Hall鈥檚 clock tower was struck by lightning during a morning storm, .
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 3. — An article authored by Matt Harris, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, was . The article, which was also picked up by media outlets around the globe, was titled 鈥淭he Taylor Swift Official State Sandwich: Politicians Understand that Swifties are a Key Demographic.鈥�
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 4. — Park University received a $108,758 grant from U.S. Trust: Victor E. Speas Foundation in January in support of the Sport and Exercise Science and Nursing programs. The grant allowed the Sport and Exercise Science program to purchase a portable metabolic analyzer 鈥� a multipurpose laboratory and research-grade medical testing device with health, fitness and sport-specific testing applications. For the Nursing program, the grant allowed for the purchase of two clinical skills simulation mannequins, which are designed to meet educational requirements for clinical nursing skills from task training through advanced patient care scenarios, as well as for two hospital beds for the mannequins. The grant amount includes equipment, accessories, shipping/handling, staff time and training.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 5. — Park University held its Kansas City Area Commencement at Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Mo., for the first time. The May event included 705 students eligible to participate in the ceremony. Cliff Illig, principal owner of Major League Soccer鈥檚 Sporting Kansas City franchise and retired co-founder of Cerner Corp., presented the keynote address.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 6. — Claude English, retired director of athletics and former head coach at Park University鈥檚 flagship Parkville (Mo.) Campus, was a part of the 2023 class of inductees into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 7. — Zackery Fritz, a sophomore nursing major and a member of Park University鈥檚 team, was on Oct. 26. Fritz helped lead Park University to the HAAC tournament championship on Oct. 28 as the Pirates, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, pulled off two upsets to win the title.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 No. 8. — Matt Harris, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, participated in two live interviews that aired on and on related to an about Taylor Swift being a political influencer.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 No.聽 9. — Steve Youngblood, associate professor of communication arts and director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism, was selected in May as a 2023-24 红杏短视频 Scholar by the U.S. Department of State and the 红杏短视频 Foreign Scholarship Board for the third time in his career (2001 and 2007). During the 2023-24 academic year, Youngblood is teaching at Moldova State University in the capital city of Chisin膬u, working on peace journalism and a project to counter misinformation.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 10. (tie) — The which explores the work of the Valor Medals Review Project by Park University鈥檚 George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War, was placed on availability on YouTube, CuriosityStream, HistoryHit and Vimeo. The 30-minute film, produced by Lame Deer Films in cooperation with the Robb Centre, interweaves the efforts of the researchers working against time, untold heroic stories of courage on the battlefields of France, on the seas and in the air, and the experience of modern-day descendants as they maintain cautious hope that family members will be recognized.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 10. (tie) — The Park University team came away with five of the six major awards . Leading the way was junior outside hitter Joao Friedrich (right), who was selected as the HAAC Player of the Year and Attacker of the Year. Freshman setter Eduardo Faquin was tabbed as the Setter of the Year, while Samuel Essilfie, opposite hitter, was named Freshman of the Year. Mike Talamantes, 笔补谤办鈥檚 director of volleyball and men鈥檚/women鈥檚 volleyball head coach, was named Coach of the Year.