Dear UT Health San Antonio community:
Effective Sept. 30, Michael Parks, chief of police, will be leaving UT Health San Antonio to join The University of Texas System as executive director of police. Chief Parks has capably led our police department for 14 years, earning multiple awards from the UT System including Department of the Year in 2013, Chief of the Year in 2014 and Chief of Police, Distinguished Command, in 2018.
Prior to joining UT Health San Antonio, Chief Parks served as director of public safety for Minnesota State University. He was a tenured faculty member at Minnesota West Community College (MWCC) and served as director and principal designer of the MWCC police academy. Prior to working in higher education, Chief Parks had a distinguished career as a detective on a narcotics team responsible for multi-jurisdictional narcotics and criminal investigations. In 1999, he earned a Medal of Honor for Bravery from the Minnesota Chief of Police Association. This experience has served to elevate our UT Police Department as an exemplar of outstanding campus policing over a period of considerable change in our safety needs during a time of extraordinary growth for our university.
During his tenure, Chief Parks has been an innovator and key member of the university leadership team. He led our police department to multiple national accreditations, implemented an award-winning mental health unit trained to support individuals in mental health crisis and launched our campus safety app, UT Health SAfe. There are numerous other initiatives he and his team have quietly led behind the scenes to provide a safe environment for every constituent of UT Health San Antonio — including students, patients, faculty and staff. His leadership was instrumental during the pandemic, as he oversaw the security and exterior logistics of our COVID-19 testing and vaccine clinics, which administered more than 250,000 vaccines.
Chief Parks has been a valued partner to me and many leaders across UT Health San Antonio. He will be greatly missed. We have all been very proud to call him our “Chief” and we wish him the best as he embarks on this new adventure, leading campus policing at the UT System level.
An interim chief of police will be announced shortly, and a search will be launched for the permanent chief of police. The UTPD leadership team assembled by Chief Parks is strong and capable and I know will continue to provide excellent service while advancing security and police-related initiatives across our growing enterprise. In the meantime, please join me in congratulating Chief Parks on this new opportunity and wishing him well.
Sincerely,
Andrea Marks
Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer