The Crow’s Nest — November 6, 2025
Parkville Campus Softball Team Hosts Special Signing Day for 7-Year-Old
On October 28, the Park University hosted a special signing day for a young woman as part of a relationship with Team IMPACT, which matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams, creating a long-term, life-changing experience for everyone involved. The honoree was Chloe Wilson, a 7-year-old 2nd grade student at Davidson Elementary School in the North Kansas City (Mo.) School District who has been diagnosed with LAMA2 congenital muscular dystrophy.
This past summer, the was contacted to connect with Team IMPACT. After learning there was a young girl (Chloe) on the waitlist ready to be matched with a college/university in the area, Park athletics and softball head coach Lindsey Derry agreed to learn more about the program. After meeting with members of Team IMPACT to get more info about the organization and what Park’s “match” with Chloe would entail, Derry wanted to make Chloe a part of the softball team. Chloe will attend Park’s softball games and other athletic events at Park, but the softball team will also get to build a connection with Chloe outside of campus. A recent example from earlier this month was when members of the team joined Chloe and her family at her school to celebrate her earning “Student of the Month” recognition. Read more about Chloe’s signing day event at .
Parkville Campus Athletics Raises Funds for Children’s Mercy Hospital Cancer Center, Jill’s Hope
The Park University teamed up with Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, raising $2,300 for continued cancer research. Park’s and teams and the team hosted cancer awareness games on Oct. 11 and Oct. 14, respectively. All proceeds from the events and additional funds from donations, as well as funds raised in 2024-25, went toward the donation. Kristin Gillette, Parkville Campus athletics director, along with members of the wołľ±đ˛Ô’s soccer team, presented a check to Megan Boos, CMH assistant director of philanthropic community events, at halftime of the łľ±đ˛Ô’s game on Oct. 11. Read more at .
Separately, the program was in support of the NFCA’s StrikeOut Cancer initiative in 2024-25. Park’s softball program raised and donated $500 to Jill’s Hope, a Kansas City nonprofit organization.
Nursing Department Hosts High School Students for Events
Park University’s Ellen Finley Earhart Department of Nursing welcomed more than 200 future healthcare professionals to the Parkville (Mo.) Campus in late October for two events. The Park Hill (Mo.) School District’s Aspiring Medical Professionals students and Northland Center for Advanced Professional Studies Healthcare Pathway students participated on Oct. 23 and Oct. 31, respectively. The groups included highly motivated students interested in nursing, medicine, physical therapy and other allied health careers from several area high schools. During the visits, students toured the Parkville Campus and nursing labs, participated in hands-on nursing skills lab activities, engaged in a birthing simulation experience, connected with nursing and other Park faculty, and current students, and learned about student life, support resources and pathways into healthcare programs. According to Jennine Wilson, Ed.D., assistant professor of nursing and department chair, the goal was to provide an authentic look into nursing education at Park, highlighting the University’s simulation-based learning environment and the supportive academic community Park fosters.
Piano Students of Stanislav Ioudenitch to Perform Recital on Nov. 13
Four students of , Park University founder and artistic director, and gold medalist of the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, will perform in recital on Thursday, Nov. 13, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the 1900 Building in Mission Woods, Kan.
The evening is scheduled to include performances by: Jiarui Cheng, a sophomore pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in music performance/piano; Tatiana Dorokhova, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Music degree in music performance/piano (she earned a graduate certificate in music performance/piano in 2024); and Ali Mammadoff and Dmitry Yudin, both graduate students pursuing a graduate certificate in music performance/piano.
Tickets for the concert are $30 for the general public and $10 for students (not including fees), and are . For more information about the concert, visit park.edu/news/piano-studio-recital-2025.
The next performance in the will be on Friday, Dec. 5, as the ICM Orchestra holds its annual Christmas concert inside Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel on the University’s Parkville Campus starting at 7:30 p.m., coinciding with the that evening. , ICM director of orchestral activities, will serve as the conductor for the event. Admission to ICM Orchestra concerts in the Chapel are free, but reservations are recommended at .
Faculty, Staff, Student News
Tatiana Dorokhova, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Music degree in music performance/piano (she earned a graduate certificate in music performance/piano in 2024), has had her . The release follows her Victory Award at the 2023 Carles and Sofia International Piano Competition, and captures a pianist who, in the words of Dina Yoffe, displays “an innate musical involvement and understanding” in every interpretation. The program of “Liebestod” offers a dramatic arc built around opera transcriptions and symphonic literature arranged for solo piano.
Merrick Henry, assistant teaching professor of graphic design, was among the inductees into the Kansas Wesleyan University Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 25 in Salina. Henry was a member of the 1999 KWU łľ±đ˛Ô’s soccer team that won the National Small College Athletic Association national championship for the third straight season, finishing with a 17-2-4 record on the year. The squad also won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournament for the first time after winning the KCAC regular season title. At the conclusion of the year, Henry was named to the All-KCAC first team.
Silvia Albani, a sophomore setter on the Park University team, was named the NAIA Setter of the Week on Oct. 21. Across two matches the week prior, Albani recorded 90 assists (12.86 per set), as well as seven kills, 11 digs and three blocks.
Sahand Hajifar, Ph.D., assistant professor of information systems and business analytics, was a part of a team that was awarded second place at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management of Sciences (INFORMS) Data Mining and Decision Analysis Workshop competition, held Oct. 25 in Atlanta, Ga. The challenge Hajifar and his teammate worked on focused on outage forecasting for Michigan counties at 24 and 48 hour horizons.
Tim Westcott, Ph.D. (left), professor of history, associate university archivist, chair of the Department of Culture and Society, and director of the , was elected president of the World War I Historical Association on Oct. 22. He recently served as vice president and chair of the association’s strategic planning commission. Westcott will be joined on the board of directors by Marcus Steele (right), junior military history major. Steele is the first student member of the board of directors.
Park University was well-represented at the , Oct. 3-4 in Lenexa, Kan. Zhiyuan (Peter) Li, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science, and Mehakdeep Kaur, undergraduate student in computer science, both presented “lightning talks” on “Revisiting Brain Tractography: Progress in Estimating White Matter Pathways Beyond dMRI” and “How Artificial Intelligence is Reshaping the Workforce: Opportunities and the Role of Women in Technology,” respectively. Sahand Hajifar, Ph.D., assistant professor of information systems and business analytics, and Kaosisochukwu Kanemeh, graduate student, both presented research during a session on data analytics and security on “Risk-Controlled Recommendations: Integrating Predictive Modeling and Portfolio Optimization” and “Smarter Forecasts for Retail: Using Seasonal ARIMA and Exponential Smoothing in U.S. Apparel Sales,” respectively. In addition, John Cigas, Ph.D. retired professor of computer science, presented a workshop on “GitHub for Collaboration,” a session chaired by Wen-Jung Hsin, Ph.D., professor of computer science. Hsin also served as a program co-chair for the conference.
Alyssa Acuna (left), associate director of student engagement and inclusion, was a speaker at the Wołľ±đ˛Ô’s Freedom Forum on Oct. 7 in Kansas City, Mo., an event of empowerment and inspiration, and a celebration of the achievements and future of women in civic leadership. In addition, Kay Barnes, retired Park University senior director of university engagement, was the keynote speaker for the event.
Jack MacLennan, Ph.D., senior director of strategic initiatives and communications, and special assistant to the president for governance, was an invited speaker at the Evergy political action committee annual meeting on Oct. 22 in Kansas City, Mo. MacLennan spoke about global politics, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as the current state of China.
Park in the News
Matt Harris, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, was interviewed for a .
Harris provided comments for a related to Kansas City International Airport being among U.S. airports refusing to play a video featuring U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that places blame on Democrats for the federal government shutdown.
Harris was interviewed for a related to a Politico report involving racist and antisemitic text messages leaked from a group chat of Young Republicans, including two members from Kansas.
Soundbites by Harris were included in a related to voters in Jackson County, Mo., deciding whether to change the county’s assessor position from an appointed role to an elected one. KMBZ-FM in Kansas City also aired soundbites from the story.
Harris was interviewed for related to Johnson County, Kan., voters thoughts on Kansas GOP attempting to call for a special session for mid-decade redistricting.
Harris provided comments for a related to a Kansas lawmaker making payments to a consultant for work and other services via his campaign account.
Stories about Kay Barnes, retired Park University senior director of university engagement, being appointed as the interim Jackson County (Mo.) executive, .
Joseph Lowe, adjunct instructor of computer science and a retired U.S. Army major, was . Lowe is a student in VTU’s online Master of Information Technology program and works for a federal department near Richmond, Va.
Alyssa Clemsen Roberts, ’04, as part of the “KRVN Conversation” program. Roberts is the general manager of Dawson Public Power, a publicly-owned electric utility in south central Nebraska.
Park University’s Gilbert (Ariz.) Campus was the . The story, which highlighted how the University is taking a close look at aligning programs with the evolving needs of students and employers as part of the University’s strategic plan, included comments from Interim President Kathrine Swanson, Ed.D.
Joni Oaks, ’04, was as part of NCMC’s “100 Stories for 100 Years” centennial celebration. Oaks serves as the director of records and registration/registrar at NCMC.
Park University was well-represented in the September issue of ±ő˛Ô˛µ°ů˛ąłľâ€™s, a Kansas City business magazine, , a list of the most powerful business leaders in Greater Kansas City. Among those selected were: Matt Malott, ’01, chief executive officer at Multivac USA; Jeanette Prenger, ’09, founder, president and chief executive officer of ECCO Select, and past chair of Park’s Board of Trustees; and Brad Skinner, ’99, president/CEO of Milbank Manufacturing.
A poverty simulation event hosted by Park University on Oct. 16 received news coverage by KCTV and WDAF-TV in Kansas City. One of the event organizers, Nikki Pauls DeSimone, former Park assistant professor of social work, was interviewed for the stories.
A video story that focused on Ben York, head coach, and Hayley Valencia, a junior management major and forward on the team, was . According to the story, York and Valencia are the only coach-player duo in the country who are cancer survivors. Valencia was diagnosed with leukemia in 2023 and York was diagnosed with synovial cell sarcoma when he was in freshman in high school (his wife is also a cancer survivor).
Stories related to the Banneker School Foundation’s ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the conclusion of a 40-year restoration project on Oct. 25 in Parkville, Mo., aired on KCUR-FM in Kansas City on 23-24 and on . All of the stories featured soundbites from Tim Westcott, Ph.D., professor of history, chair of the Department of Culture and Society, associate university archivist and director of the .
Susan Keim, Ph.D., associate professor of public administration, was interviewed for related to whether Unified Government employees in Wyandotte County, Kan., should be required to live within the county or if the requirement should be expanded to a 30-mile radius of city hall.
Kristin Gillette, Park University , and Jason Kline, head coach, were . The interview was related to the 4th annual Remy Williams Memorial Invitational the Pirates basketball teams hosted Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
Park University was ranked No. 5 by the Kansas City Business Journal on its list of colleges and universities in the Kansas City area, based on total local fall 2025 enrollment, on Oct. 3. In addition, Park’s Master of Business Administration program was ranked No. 4 by the KCBJ, also based on local fall 2025 enrollment. In addition, Park ranked No. 5 on ±ő˛Ô˛µ°ů˛ąłľâ€™s (a Kansas City business magazine) list of the top MBA programs in Kansas and Missouri, based on fall 2024 enrollment.
Park University ranked No. 10 on Research.com’s “2025 List of the 10 Best Accredited Non-Profit Online Universities.”
Upcoming Events
(All events are Central time and on the flagship Parkville [Mo.] Campus unless noted)
     • Through Dec. 19 — Bryce Holt Art Exhibit, Campanella Gallery (Norrington Center)
     • November 8 — Columbus (Ohio) Campus / Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio) Campus Commencement Ceremony, 9 a.m., Ohio History Connection, Columbus
     • November 11 — Veterans Day Holiday (Parkville and Gilbert daytime classes cancelled; all Park University offices nationwide closed; Fall II classes held as scheduled)
     • November 12 — First Generation College Student Day Celebration, Noon-1:30 p.m., Pirate Café (Thompson Commons)
     • November 13 — , 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building, Mission Woods, Kan.
     • November 27-30 — Thanksgiving Holiday (Parkville and Gilbert daytime classes cancelled; all Park University offices nationwide closed; Fall II classes held as scheduled)
     • December 4 — American Red Cross Blood Drive, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Breckon Sports Center (East Dome)
     • December 5 — Ellen Finley Earhart Department of Nursing Pinning Ceremony, 2 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
     • December 5 — Christmas on the River, 6-10 p.m., Downtown Parkville, Mo.
     • December 5 — International Center for Music Concert: 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
     • December 7 — Fall Semester / Fall II Term Ends
     • December 24-January 1 — Christmas Holiday / Park University Holiday / New Year’s Day Holiday (all Park University offices nationwide closed)
     • January 12 — Spring Semester / Spring I Term Begins
To view a comprehensive schedule for all events, including athletics and student life, visit park.edu/calendars/park-events-calendar.