Editor's Note: The following story was prepared for the Louisville Defender's African-American Achievers' Edition and was published in the Feb. 14, 2013 issue.

By Christina L. Kern, office assistant

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — The Rev. David Cozart, a graduate of Campbellsville University, said his college experience “gave me the opportunity to become a better leader.”

Cozart, of Lexington, Ky., serves as director of the Fayette County Father Initiative with the Leadership Lexington Foundation and also serves as administrator of development/program administrator for the Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County.

Cozart was already a believer when he came to Campbellsville in 1989, but those four years of college “ended up being a foundation of life change for me and helped root that belief,” he said.

Cozart has ministered in the area of human services by serving young men at a job corps, pregnant and emergency shelter teens at Florence Crittenton Home in Lexington, Family Care Center in Lexington and serving as community involvement manager at Lexington Local Investment Commission.

“My leadership skills were honed at Campbellsville,” he said. “My love for human services led me back to several roles there.”

Since he graduated in 1994, Cozart remains connected to Campbellsville University through friends on staff and serves with CU's Church Relations Council as chair of the campus ministries committee. He is also invited to speak to the campus community on occasion.

He is also working on his master of theology degree at Campbellsville University and plans to graduate this May.
Cozart said he is blessed with his connections to state, local and government agencies. He has served on several boards and committees, and received several awards for service and leadership in the community.

He is also a chaplain for the University of Kentucky football team.

Cozart, however, doesn't say he is successful as an individual. “Any success I have is because of my founding principles and because we do things better together than we do separately; it's all part of a collaboration,” he said.
“We are successful because we combine divine gifts and manifest them into a successful project or initiative. It is a community of faith.”

Cozart also said his wife, Nekesha, is a part of his success.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,600 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master's degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.