Ben Parks

As College Park Scholars' associate director for student affairs, Ben Parks provides strategic leadership on all student affairs functions, including Scholars' partnership with Resident Life and the Division of Student Affairs; student care and well-being; belonging and community; community engagement; and holistic human development. He is the senior student affairs advisor to the executive director and program directors and staff. He advocates for students and acts as the primary point person for Scholars students in distress.

Parks serves as chair of the Scholars Launch Team and spearheads Service Day. He is the point person for building a series of intergroup dialogue courses in Scholars. He is the advisor for the Student Advisory Board and the founding advisor to Cambridge Community Queers & Allies (CCQA) and Scholars Promoting And Revitalizing Care (SPARC). 

Parks builds strong partnerships across campus and in the community. He is a member of the executive committee of the BSU-UMD Social Justice Alliance, and he serves on many campus-wide committees, including Fall Welcome, Campus Fabric, and UGST Thrive. He is an experienced intergroup dialogue facilitator and instructor, and has taught leadership courses on campus. A multiple winner of the Ken Joseph Outstanding Mentor Award from Scholars students, he has received the Employee Recognition Award from the Office of Undergraduate Studies, the Pride Award from the LGBTQ+ Equity Center, and was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

Parks joined the Scholars community as coordinator in 2010 after three years as a residence hall coordinator at the University of Iowa; he was promoted to assistant director in 2012 and associate director in 2020. He earned his Ph.D. in higher education, student affairs, and international education policy from the University of Maryland, his master's in college student personnel from Western Illinois University, and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's in history and political science from Wartburg College.