Parkyn Elected President of North Park University
GRAND RAPIDS, MI (June 15) - David Parkyn officially became the ninth president of North Park University with a unanimous vote from delegates to the 121st Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church this afternoon.Parkyn told the delegates his strong Christian faith was formed largely as a child growing up in Guatemala among the poor. A teacher and administrator at several higher education institutions, Parkyn added that "Learning is most noble when used to benefit others."
The new president succeeds David Horner, who resigned in September 2004.
Parkyn was the unanimous selection of the North Park Board of Trustees.
Parkyn most recently served as provost and senior vice president at
Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.
Parkyn previously spent 23 years at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, where he served several roles over the years - as senior vice president, vice president for planning, director of general education and assessment, and professor of religious studies. He also worked a number of years with the Messiah College urban campus affiliated with Temple University in Philadelphia.
The Parkyns have worshiped in a variety of faith traditions, and he said today that he is looking forward to worshiping as a Covenanter. In describing his personal journey of faith, Parkyn has written, "The Christian faith should be articulated in formal statements and the spoken word, but it must also be expressed in a lived reality."
Raised in Guatemala, Parkyn holds both a personal and scholarly interest in Latin America that he shares with his wife, Linda, who is a tenured faculty member at Messiah College. Fluent in Spanish, they developed their interest in issues related to student diversity as a result of their unique involvement with others cultures throughout their 31 years of marriage. Children, Betsy, 28, and Nathaniel, 25, reside in Boston. The Parkyns will move into North Park's presidential residence this summer.