Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
One College Park Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: MBC Commencement Features Congressman Jim Talent
MBC Commencement Features Congressman Jim Talent
April 27, 2001
Missouri Baptist College will be holding its twenty-ninth annual commencement ceremony at 10:30 AM on Saturday, April 28th, at Queeny Park. Approximately two hundred students will receive bachelor degrees and MBC will honor the College's first graduates from the master’s program. The ceremony will feature Missouri Congressman Jim Talent, who represented the Second Congressional District of Missouri in the House of Representatives for eight years.
As Chairman of the Small Business Committee, Talent secured tax relief for entrepreneurs and fought for regulatory reform that would improve worker safety through partnerships with small business. Talent also pioneered anti-poverty legislation called the Community Renewal Act and was one of the first advocates of the Real Welfare Reform Act.
Before coming to Congress, Talent served eight years in the Missouri House of Representatives. His skills as a leader and respect from both sides of the aisle led him to serve four years as House Minority Leader.
During his service in Congress, Congressman Talent has received numerous award and honors over the years. The first male recipient of the National Association of Women Business Owners’ “Public Policy Advocate” award, Talent was also named “Legislator of the Year” by the Department of Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars, the International Franchise Association and the Independent Electrical Contractors. In 2000, Talent received the Vietnam Veterans Association “Lifetime Achievement Award,” and he has been named the “Taxpayer Hero” by the Americans for Tax Reform, “Guardian of Senior’s Rights” by the 60 Plus Association, and the “Friend of the Farmer” by the Missouri Farm Bureau.
In January of 2001, Talent was named a Robert S. Brookings Fellow at his alma mater Washington University - St. Louis where he teaches a course on the Congress. He is also a Counsel to the law firm of Arent Fox where he continues to work on issues such as small business and health care.
Talent received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and received his juris doctor from the University of Chicago Law School. Talent and his wife, Brenda, were married in 1984. They have three children: Michael, born in 1990; Kate, born in 1992; and Christine, born in 1996. Brenda is a former partner with the law firm of Bryan Cave, and she served four years as an officer in the United States Army.
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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