Governor Parson Names Two KC Metro Area Residents, Phyllis Chase and Stu Rogers, to UCM’s Governing Board

WARRENSBURG, MO – Missouri Governor Mike Parson has announced the appointment of two individuals from the Kansas City metropolitan area to fill vacancies on the University of Central Missouri Board of Governors. Their terms begin immediately with final confirmation pending state senate approval when the General Assembly reconvenes in January. 

Parson named Phyllis A. Chase, Ed.D., a longtime public school and college educator from Kansas City, to fill a seat previously held by Marvin E. “Bunky” Wright, Columbia, who recently passed away. He also appointed Stu Rogers, a businessman and UCM alumnus from Lee’s Summit, to serve in a post previously held by Mary Long, Kansas City, whose term concluded. 

Rogers, whose term ends Jan. 1, 2029, earned a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1982 and a Master of Science in Social Gerontology in 1985 from the University of Central Missouri. From 1983 to 1990, he served as head coach of the Mules baseball team, compiling a 185-128-3 record, and numerous other achievements that catapulted him into the UCM Athletics Hall of Fame. When he joined UCM Intercollegiate Athletics, he was the youngest head coach in the NCAA. Under his leadership, the Mules captured four MIAA conference titles, won three consecutive regional tournaments (1988, 1989, 1990), and participated in two NCAA Division II World Series in Montgomery, Alabama (1989 and 1990). Rogers was the first Mules coach ever to take the baseball team to these championships.

After leaving the university, in January 1991 Rogers became a sales agent owner for American FamilyInsurance, an independent business in Warrensburg which served 2,500 accounts. He was promoted into a sales leadership post within American Family Insurance in Lee’s Summit in 1993. With approximately three decades of service in this industry, his achievements include being inducted into the American Family Hall of Fame.

Chase, who was appointed to serve the board through Jan. 1, 2027, has served since July 1, 2020 as a professor and PK-12 Doctor of Education coordinator at Baker University, where she also served one year previously as an adjunct professor teaching the course, “Program Planning and Evaluation” in the doctoral program. She served from 2012 to 2020 as Director of the Charter School Center for the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she was responsible for monitoring, oversight and support of eight charter schools that served 5,500 students. 

Additional experiences include working as Deputy Superintendent for North Kansas City Public Schools in Kansas City, Missouri, 2009-2012; Superintendent of Columbia, Missouri Public Schools, 2003-2008; Chief of Staff for Springfield, Missouri Public Schools, 2000-2003; and Acting Superintendent for the Kansas City, Missouri School District, 1998-2000. She also worked in Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa public schools, and was an adjunct professor at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.

Chase earned an Ed.D. in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1987, and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education in 1971. She also graduated from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, in 1978 with a Master of Science in Guidance and Counseling.

UCM’s Board of Governors is the university’s policy-setting body. It is composed of seven voting members and a non-voting student governor, all appointed by the Governor of the State of Missouri.