Parker University

Parker University
Former names	Parker College of Chiropractic
Established	1982 (1982)
Type	Private
President	Dr. Brian McAulay
Provost	Gery Hochanadel, PhD
Location	Dallas, Texas, United States
Website	www.parker.edu

Parker University is a private, nonprofit university, originally founded as a college of chiropractic, that offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate degrees in a number of health care-based programs. Its campus, along with an affiliate chiropractic and massage therapy clinic, is located in Dallas, Texas. The university operates a second chiropractic clinic in Irving, Texas, at the site of its first campus. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Council on Chiropractic Education, and the Commission of Massage Therapy Accreditation.^[1]

History

Establishment

Parker University is named for its founder, Dr. James W. Parker. In 1951, Dr. Parker launched a series of postgraduate chiropractic seminars that would become Parker Seminars. The seminars, still active today, have attracted nearly 40,000 chiropractors, or two-thirds of the world’s doctors of chiropractic. In the late 1970s, following the continued success of Parker Seminars, Dr. Parker established Parker College of Chiropractic. The college was chartered by the State of Texas on March 8, 1978 and received its non-profit IRS status in October 1978. The original campus, located in Irving, Texas, opened on September 12, 1982. Parker College of Chiropractic graduated its first class of 27 students in 1985.^[2]

Expansion and growth

The college moved to its Dallas campus in 1989. In 1993, enrollment reached more than 1,000 students for the first time in school history. In 1999, Dr. Fabrizio Mancini succeeded James Parker as president of Parker College of Chiropractic. In 2006, Parker opened its School of Massage Therapy to serve the growing need for massage therapists within chiropractic and other health care professions.

Recent history

In 2011, Parker College of Chiropractic officially became Parker University, paving the way for expanded degree programs both on-campus and online, such as Health Information Management, MBA with an emphasis in Health Care Management, Computer Information Systems (Concentration: CyberSecurity and Information Technology) and Radiologic Technology.^[3] In 2012, Dr. Brian McAulay was appointed president of Parker University.^[4] Also in 2012, Parker University announced its strategic plan to develop 12 new academic programs through 2017.^[5]

Parker University Wellness Clinics

Chiropractic and Massage Therapy Clinics

The Parker Chiropractic Wellness Clinics, maintained by Parker University, provide chiropractic care and massage therapy to the public. Clinic patients receive treatment from Parker University College of Chiropractic senior interns, and are closely supervised by licensed doctors of chiropractic.

Animal Clinic

The Parker University Animal Clinic, also located on the Dallas campus, offers animal chiropractic care -- in addition to routine veterinary services -- as holistic health becomes more widespread for pets and sport-performing animals such as race horses.^[6]

Parker Seminars

Pre-seminars

Parker Seminars was founded as PSPS (Parker Seminars for Professional Success) by Dr. James W. Parker, who opened his first chiropractic clinic in Texas in 1946. 18 months later, Dr. Parker served as many as 300 patients a day at affiliate clinics in Dallas, Waco, Texas, and Meridian, Texas. By 1950, now operating an additional fourteen Texas-based clinics, Dr. Parker and his clinic staffs continually analyzed ways to get more sick people well by cataloging technique, office procedures, business management methods, and patient communication, all of which would become vital components of PSPS. ^[2]

Groundwork laid

As PSPS continued to grow within the chiropractic profession, chiropractors and others sought Dr. Parker’s advice and recommendations to successfully improve their own practices. Dr. Parker ran a series of pilot seminars for the staffs of several of his own Texas clinics. As word spread across Texas of the successful seminar series, doctors of chiropractic from other states began attending.^[2]

Seminars take off

The first official Parker Seminar was held December 13-16, 1951, in Orlando, Florida. Over the next decade, Parker Seminars visited nearly every major city in North America. By 1963, following the need for larger seminar accommodations, Dr. Parker moved the Parker Seminars headquarters to Fort Worth, Texas. In the next seven years, Dr. Parker conducted seminars in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii. In 1971, Parker Seminar headquarters again relocated, this time to Dallas, Texas, present home of Parker University. In January of 1989, the 300th Parker Seminar was held in Las Vegas, Nevada.^[2]

Present

Parker Seminars is now the largest and longest-running chiropractic seminar series in the world. Parker Seminars typically hosts three seminars annually, with its flagship event hosted in Las Vegas. Its seminars typically feature notable figures and speakers in the American health care system such as Regina Benjamin, 18th Surgeon General of the United States.^[7]

Research Institute

The Parker University Research Institute provides scientific evidence supporting health and wellness. A variety of its research efforts address such topics as pain relief, improved biomechanical function, and the contribution of chiropractic to overall health and wellness. The Parker University Research Institute has collaborated with such prestigious institutions as Yale University, the University of Oxford, the University of Chicago, and the University of Texas Medical Branch.^[8]

References

External links

• Official website
• Parker University Official Facebook
• Parker University Official Twitter