U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt will be the commencement speaker for the morning ceremony at North Central Missouri College in Trenton on Saturday, May 9.
North Central will host two commencement ceremonies as large numbers of graduates have prompted the college to move to two events. The morning ceremony will focus on all candidates for degrees or certificates in non-allied-health areas, including those for associate in arts, associate in general studies, associate in arts in teaching, and various other two-year degree and certificate programs.
Building on a background as a public servant, university president, and teacher, Sen. Blunt was elected to the United States Senate in 2010. He serves as vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. He also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee; the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He is the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.
The voters of southwest Missouri overwhelmingly elected Blunt seven times to the U.S. House of Representatives. Blunt was elected majority whip earlier in his career than any member of Congress in eight decades and he was elected to the Senate leadership during his first year in the Senate. Before serving in Congress, he was a history teacher, a county official and, in 1984, became the first Republican elected as Missouri’s Secretary of State in more than 50 years. Sen. Blunt also served four years as the president of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar. He is a member of the Smithsonian Council for American Art and is a trustee of the State Historical Society of Missouri.
The senator is married to Abigail Blunt and has four children, Matt Blunt, Missouri’s 54th governor; Amy Blunt, an attorney in Columbia; Andy Blunt, an attorney in Jefferson City; and Charlie, age 10. Blunt also has six grandchildren, Davis Mosby, Ben Blunt, Branch Blunt, Eva Mosby, Allyson Blunt and Brooks Blunt.
NCMC’s morning commencement ceremony is set to begin at 9 o’clock in the Ketcham Community Center on the NCMC campus near downtown Trenton.