Byers-Pevitts
Beverley Byers-Pevitts, Ph.D., who served as Park University’s 14th (and first female) president from 2001-09, passed away in Sarasota, Fla., on Friday, Nov. 4.
Mackay Hall on Park University’s Parkville campus was lit black Monday, Nov. 7 in her honor. An obituary and services are pending.
Byers-Pevitts came to Park from Texas Woman’s University where she served as provost, vice president of academic affairs and interim president/chief executive officer from 1995 to 2001. Prior to TWU, she served as the dean of humanities and fine arts at the University of Northern Iowa; as choir and director of graduate studies in the Department of Theater Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and as director of speech and drama at Kentucky Wesleyan College.
During her tenure at Park, Byers-Pevitts enhanced initiatives that secured the University greater visibility in local, national and international circles. She helped develop education study exchange agreements on four continents and worked to expand relationships with government and military constituencies important to Park’s future. Byers-Pevitts also extended Park’s participation with the armed services through the development of the Park Global Warrior Center. She also helped establish the University’s International Center for Music (currently celebrating its 20th anniversary) and the International Center for Civic Engagement.
She was a professionally produced and published playwright, has had numerous articles published in educational journals and books, and lectured widely. Byers-Pevitts was the founding president of the Association for Theater in Higher Education and served on the national advisory board for the Women’s Museum, a division of the Smithsonian Institution.
Byers-Pevitts earned her doctorate degree and a Master of Arts degree from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kentucky Wesleyan College (she was the first alumna of KWC to become a president of a college/university). She also completed post-doctoral study at the Institute for Education Management at Harvard University.
Park University President Shane Smeed said, “I express my deepest condolences to Bob (Pevitts, her husband) and her family. Dr. Byers-Pevitts’ vision and dedication will persist within the countless students she taught, the higher educational professionals she mentored and the programs she launched.”