Beverley Byers-Pevitts, formerly of Cedar Falls, was unanimously selected recently to serve as the next president of Park University in Parkville, Missouri, a northern suburb of Kansas City. The first woman in Park's 126-year history to be selected as president, Byers-Pevitts has agreed to begin her responsibilities on June 1, 2001. Her election as the fourteenth president of Park University will follow the fourteen years of leadership of current President Donald Breckon, who is retiring. The school has an enrollment of 17,000.
Byers-Pevitts is former dean of humanities and fine arts at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls. Byers-Pevitts served in 1999 as interim president/chief executive officer at Texas Woman's University, which has campuses in Denton, Dallas, and Houston, Texas. She served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at TWU from July 1995 until June 2000. She also is a tenured professor of performing arts. She was previously chair and director of graduate studies of the department of theater arts, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and the director of speech and drama at Kentucky Wesleyan College. Byers-Pevitts earned her Ph. D. and master's degrees from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Her bachelor of arts degree is from Kentucky Wesleyan College, Owensboro.
Copyright Waterloo Courier, February 25, 2001, page D2.