Park University

The school which was originally called Park College was founded in 1875 by John A. McAfee on land donated by George S. Park with its initial structure being the stone hotel Park owned on the bluff above the Missouri River.

The original concept called for students to receive free tuition and board in exchange for working up to half day in the college's farm, electrical shop or printing plant. According to the terms of the arrangement if the “Parkville Experiment” did not work out within five years, the college grounds were to revert to Park.[2]

There were 17 students in the first school year and in the first graduation class there were five women. McAfee led until his death in 1890. His son Lowell M. McAfee became the second president of Park until stepping down in 1913. The first international student at Park University arrived in 1880 from Japan.

The defining landmark of the campus is Mackay Hall, named after Carroll County, Illinois banker Duncan Mackay who donated $25,000 in materials for the structure shortly before his death.[3] The building was constructed using limestone mined on the campus grounds and built with the labor of students. Construction began in 1883 and was finished by 1893. Today the building is the main focal point of the campus and dominates the hillside, overlooking the town of Parkville. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

For many decades the school was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church but it no longer has that affiliation. The college has had a relationship with the military since 1889. However, the relationship was greatly expanded in the late 1960s with the establishment of a Military Degree Completion Program and later in 1972 with the Military Resident Center System. Park's total enrollment has grown from its small base since 1996 when it first began offering online courses.[4] In 2000, it was renamed Park University.

The flagship campus of Park University is located in the city of Parkville, Missouri. The Park University Graduate School is located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. There are 41 campuses in 22 U.S. states[5] including four campuses in the Kansas City area (Downtown Kansas City, Independence, Lenexa and Parkville) and a campus center in Austin, Texas. Most of the satellite campuses are on or near United States military bases and share quarters with other businesses/organizations.

The 800-acre (323.7 ha) home campus currently has an enrollment of 1,600 students representing 50 states and 106 countries.[6] The entire extended system had an annual student enrollment of 23,000.[7]

In 2018, the university opened a campus center in Gilbert, Arizona in the city's Heritage District. Park leased 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m²) at the University Building.[8] The university continued to expand the Gilbert campus in 2019, leasing an additional 7,000-square-foot (650 m²) and extending the initial three-year term to five years with the city.[8] The university continued to expand the Gilbert campus with the addition of college athletics.[8] Initially playing as an independent during the 2019-20 academic year, the university announced membership in the NAIA and California Pacific Conference (Pac West) starting in 2020-21.[9]

• Ranked 2nd in the “online and nontraditional” category on the Military Times’ "Best for Vets: Colleges 2016" list.[11]
• Ranked 2nd among all private colleges/universities in the country with a 9.5 percent annual ROI by 2015 PayScale College ROI Report.[12]
• 2015-16 Colleges of Distinction list.[13]
• Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the 126-165 best Midwest college in 2018.[14]

• Marsia Alexander-Clarke, artist[15]
• Vlatko Andonovski - United States Women's National Soccer Team Coach
• James J. Barry, Jr. (1969) - former New Jersey General Assemblyman and New Jersey Director of Consumer Affairs
• Ralph von Frese (1969) - American geologist
• Tsiang Tingfu (Chinese: 蔣廷黻)- Chinese scholar and diplomat. In 1911, he attended the Park Academy
• Don H. Compier (1985) - founding Dean of the Community of Christ Seminary
• Steve Cox - freelance writer
• John R. Everett (1942) - President of Hollins College, first Chancellor of the Municipal College System of the City of New York, and President of the New School for Social Research
• Maurice Green Olympic Sprinter; world record holder
• Melana Scantlin (2002) - former Miss Missouri USA, television personality
• Chance Browne - American musician, painter, and cartoonist
• Robert E. Hall - eleventh Sergeant Major of the Army
• Charles A. Holland, Los Angeles, California, City Council member, 1929–31
• James A. Roy - sixteenth Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
• Edwin Kagin - attorney, founder Camp Quest
• George Kelly - American psychologist, therapist and educator
• Texe Marrs - American preacher
• Cleland Boyd McAfee (1884) - American theologian

Kay Barnes photo

• Newell A. George - United States Congressman, 1959–1961.
• Carl McIntire - radio broadcaster
• Stephen M. Veazey - Prophet-President of the Community of Christ
• George S. Robb, U.S. Army (1912) - Medal of Honor - World War I
• Lewis Millet, U.S. Army (1964) - Medal of Honor - Korea
• Thaddeus J. Martin, U.S. Air Force, Connecticut Adjutant General
• David Grace (basketball) UCLA and Oregon State University men's assistant basketball coach (USAF Retired) [16]
• Anthony Melchiorri - Hospitality expert and Travel Channel host
• Hollington Tong - transferred to University of Missouri, Republic of China ambassador to the United States

• Official website
• Official athletics website