Retired from the presidency of North Park University Chicago in 2017, Dr. David L. Parkyn now teaches in several graduate programs in higher education.
Parkyn began his academic career as a faculty member at Endicott College in Massachusetts, which at the time was a two-year women's college. Subsequently, he served appointments as Vice President for Planning and Senior Vice President at Messiah College, and then Provost of Elizabethtown College, both in Pennsylvania. As President for eleven years at North Park University in Chicago he led the largest fundraising campaign in the university's history, increased undergraduate and graduate enrollment to record levels, and championed growing student diversity with students of color exceeding 60% of both undergraduate and graduate enrollment.
Parkyn has served on a number of boards supporting a variety of higher education contexts, including the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, OneGoal-Chicago, Campus Compact Illinois, the Associated Colleges of Illinois, and the Federation of Illinois Independent Colleges and Universities. Additionally, beginning in 1998 he was a member for 8 years of the Editorial Board and Book Review Editor of Planning for Higher Education, the quarterly professional journal of the Society for College and University Planning.
Parkyn holds the Ph.D. in higher education from Boston College, and attended the Institute for Educational Management and the Seminar for Experienced Presidents, both at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.