May 2026 Kansas City Area Commencement
Saturday, May 9, 2026, 10 a.m.
Cable Dahmer Arena
19100 E. Valley View Parkway
Independence, MO 64055
2026 Commencement Speaker: Crispin Rea, ’08, J.D.
Crispin Rea, J.D., will present the May 2026 Kansas City Area commencement address. Rea, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Park University in 2008, was elected in 2023 an at-large member of the Kansas City, Mo., City Council, representing the 4th District. In 2010, he was elected to the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Schools Board of Education as the youngest member ever elected to serve on the board. He also served eight years in the Jackson County (Mo.) Prosecutor’s Office, spending most of his time in the Special Victims Unit.
Past Commencement Ceremonies
2023 Commencement
2023 Keynote Speaker
Cliff Illig, principal owner of Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City franchise and retired co-founder of Cerner Corp., presented the keynote address. The event included 705 Park University students eligible to participate in the ceremony — 218 students received a master’s degree and/or graduate certificate, and 487 students received a bachelor’s degree, associate degree and/or undergraduate certificate.
Read more about Illig at park.edu/news/kca-commencement-2023.
2022 Commencement
2022 Keynote Speaker
Josh Rowland, Ph.D., J.D., provided the keynote address. Rowland is the chief executive officer and vice chairman of Lead Bank, a community-minded, independent commercial bank headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.
2021 Commencement
2021 Keynote Speaker
Adelaida Severson, Ph.D., the president and chief executive officer of Bushtex Inc., an international satellite communications firm based in Gilbert, Ariz., presented the December 2021 Commencement keynote address.
May 2021 Commencement
- May 2021 Commencement Program (PDF)*
- May 2021 Commencement Program (ISSUU)
- May 2021 Commencement Ceremony Video
May 2021 Keynote Speaker
Vince Clark, vice president of business development and chief corporate affairs officer at Creative Planning LLC, an independent financial advisory firm in Overland Park, Kan., presented the keynote address for the May 2021 Commencement, held virtually on May 8.
*NOTE: The program only includes the names of graduates who selected to participate in the virtual commencement program.
December 2020 Commencement
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Park University hosted a virtual all-University commencement ceremony for May and December 2020 graduates from across the country on December 12, in collaboration with graduation technology partners StageClip and MarchingOrder.
- December 2020 Commencement Program (PDF)
- December 2020 Commencement Program (ISSUU)
- December 2020 Commencement Ceremony Video
December 2020 Keynote Speaker
Anthony Melchiorri, a 1990 Park graduate and U.S. military veteran, and the host, co-creator and co-executive producer of Travel Channel’s “Hotel Impossible” series of shows, was the keynote speaker.