Three former student-athletes from Missouri S&T were inducted into the Academy of Miner Athletics during a ceremony held Friday, Oct. 12, in the Havener Center on the Missouri S&T campus.

The academy recognizes alumni who have brought honor to the university’s athletic department through their accomplishments on the playing field, in their careers and through community leadership. Academy members support the department through coordinated gifts of time, experience and money. The Academy of Miner Athletics was founded in October 2011 with its first induction class of 33 individuals.

New members are:

Dr. Jeff Cawlfield of Rolla, Missouri, vice provost of Academic Support at Missouri S&T. Cawlfield joined the Missouri S&T faculty as an assistant professor of geological engineering in 1987 and was named associate professor in 1993 and professor in 1999. He holds Ph.D. and master of science degrees in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Washington State University. Before being named vice provost, Cawlfield served in various capacities as program head, associate dean, department chair, and director of the Freshman Engineering Program. Cawlfield was the NCAA Division II faculty athletic representative from 2003 to 2013 and worked closely with athletics director Mark Mullin during S&T’s transition from the MIAA to the GLVC. He has received the Outstanding Teaching Award seven times and the Outstanding Teaching Award for Distance Education three times. He and his wife, Lisa, are members of the Order of the Golden Shillelagh.

Tanya Newkirk of Springfield, Missouri, earned a bachelor of science degree in life sciences from Missouri S&T in 1989 and played basketball for the Miners from 1984-89. She was named most valuable player in three seasons and earned first-team All-MIAA honors in two. In her 98 career games, Newkirk became the program’s all-time leader with 913 rebounds, including two of the top seven single-season performances ever, while also scoring the fourth-most points in program history and ranking third all-time with 534 made field goals. Newkirk also served as a graduate assistant coach for one season for both the basketball and softball programs, and as a student trainer for the women’s soccer team. After graduation, Newkirk worked as a physical therapy assistant. Later coached basketball, volleyball, softball and track and field at the middle and high school level. After two seasons as head coach for the Tremont High School girls’ basketball team, she led the basketball and boys and girls track and field teams at Atchison Middle School. Newkirk has served with PEO Women’s Educational Organization, the YMCA board, local theater groups and various ministries at her church. Newkirk and her husband, Tim, have five children, including three adopted from Colombia in 2007, while their other two children competed in athletics at the collegiate level.

Nancy Parks of Longview, Texas, a group exercise coordinator at Christus Good Shepherd Institute for Healthy Living. Parks earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering management from Missouri S&T in 1989 and was a four-year letter winner for the S&T softball team during a time the Miners posted the best regular-season record in the MIAA. After graduation, Parks worked as a production supervisor for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Missouri, then spent three years as a human resources association for Lockheed Aeromod Center in Tucson, Arizona. Her professional career continued with Burr Brown Inc., now known as Texas Instruments, in Tucson. Since 2007, Parks has worked as a personal trainer and fitness manager for various athletic clubs in Texas, in addition to spending three years in Fernie, British Columbia, as a boot camp coach and personal trainer. She and her husband, Todd, a 1991 S&T mining engineering graduate who played football for the Miner program, have been married for 27 years and have two sons, Cody, 20, and Brett, 17.