2013 Distinguished Civic Leadership Awards 

Thursday April 11, 2013. lehr Room Gordinier hall. See Walker center tab for more details and to nominate a deserving individual today! 

Reflect & Connect

February 2013

Topic: Men Can STOP Rape and Domestic Violence

When: Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Where: In the Ford Atrium, McComsey Hall MU campus

Who: Facilitated by Chief Pete Anders

FREE and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served

October 2011

Career Week

Don’t Shoot: Violence, Prison, Race, and Common Ground

David M. Kennedy, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, will discuss why a focused deterrence strategy can

reduce inner city violent crime and the importance of addressing racial issues embedded in the traditional approaches to violent

and drug related crime in his lecture entitled, Don’t Shoot: Violence, Prison, Race, and Common Ground.

When: Thursday October 18^th, 2012 at 8:30 PM

Where: Student Memorial Center (SMC) in the multipurpose room (MPR) right here on campus

October Reflect & Connect Event Facilitated by Dr. Corkery using The Influencing Machine

MU- Congress to Campus Event October 16, 2012 Join us in welcoming :

Join us for Pizza Policy and Politics a Free Pizza, Salad and dessert Buffet open to all, Tuesday 10-16-2012 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in the University room of Gordinier Hall. Your chance to meet these distinguished guests and ask your questions!

Nancy Boyda

Representative, 2007-2009, Democrat from Kansas

Nancy Boyda defeated a five-term incumbent to win election to the U.S. House from a district in eastern Kansas. During her single term in Congress, Representative Boyda received two prime committee assignments—allowing her to tend to her district’s military presence and agricultural interests.

Nancy Boyda was born on August 2, 1955, in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated in 1977 from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and education. She worked for more than two decades in pharmaceutical research, first as an inspector for the Environmental Protection Agency, and later as a manager in the research departments for several pharmaceutical companies. She also taught grade school. Boyda raised two children, Ben and Leah, from a previous marriage; from her marriage to Steve Boyda, a Marine veteran and former Marshall (KS) County attorney, she had five step-children.¹

 

Boyda, a lifelong Republican, switched her affiliation in 2003 to the Democratic Party, arguing that the GOP had become “the voice of big, big, big business.” Nevertheless, she once told The Hill newspaper, she held many of the same values as her old party: “You won’t find much difference between me and a moderate Republican.”² Boyda made her first run for elective office in 2004, when she challenged four-term, incumbent U.S Representative Jim Ryun, a Republican. The district encompassed almost all of eastern Kansas running from the northern border with Nebraska and sweeping southward to Oklahoma, taking in the state capital, Topeka, as well as Manhattan, Leavenworth, Parsons, and Pittsburg. Reapportionment in the early 1990s created the modern district—which merged traditionally Republican counties in the southeast corner of the state, with counties in the northeast that had begun voting for moderate Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s. Boyda lost her initial matchup to Ryan by 15 percent, but returned to challenge him again in 2006. In that contest, Boyda and her husband Steve mounted a grass roots campaign that involved intense personal campaigning, local radio and newspaper ads, and a barrage of yard signs that read, “Had Enough?”³ In an election in which Republicans lost majority control in the House for the first time in 12 years, Boyda defeated Ryun, 50.6 percent to 47.1 percent, with a third-party candidate winning the remainder of the vote.⁴

 

After Boyda was sworn into office at the opening of the 110th Congress (2007–2009), she received prime committee appointments: Agriculture and Armed Services. From her seat on the Agriculture Committee, Boyda had the opportunity to address the district’s agricultural interests—ranging from corn, soybean, and wheat production to raising cattle. The Armed Services post, where she served on the Military Personnel Subcommittee, provided her a platform from which to look out for the district’s military installations—Fort Riley (headquarters of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division), Fort Leavenworth, and Forbes Field.

Boyda introduced the Congressional Pension Accountability Act in the opening days of the 110th Congress. The legislation would have denied federal pensions to Members who were convicted of criminal actions committed while they served in Congress. It passed the House by a wide margin as part of the new Democratic majority’s accountability and reform program, but was referred to committee in the Senate which did not take action on it. “Corrupt politicians deserve prison sentences,” Boyda declared on the House Floor, “not taxpayer-funded pensions.” Boyda’s initiative was later incorporated into the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which passed both chambers and became law in September 2007.⁵

 

Representative Boyda also advocated continued funding for U.S. troops in Iraq, while demanding a clear strategy from the George W. Bush administration to end the war. She also sought full congressional funding of the base Realignment and Closure Commission’s efforts to restructure the U.S. military—an undertaking that she claimed previous Congresses failed to support adequately. From her seat on the Armed Services Committee, Representative Boyda was able to steer millions of dollars in federal funding for improvements to Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley.⁶

In 2008, Congresswoman Boyda mounted her re-election effort and faced Republican Lynn Jenkins, the Kansas state treasurer, who had defeated former Representative Ryun in the GOP primary. In the general election, Jenkins defeated Boyda 51 to 46 percent. Representative Boyda’s term expired at the conclusion of the 110th Congress on January 3, 2009.

Steven Kuykendall

Representative, 1999-2001, Republican from California

Steven T. Kuykendall (R-CA) served in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2001 representing California's 36th Congressional District. Congressman Kuykendall served on the Armed Services, the Science and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committees of the House.

In his first year in Congress, Congressman Kuykendall helped craft a plan to pay down the national debt while still providing a tax cut and protecting Social Security. He secured funds to clean up Santa Monica Bay, replace the Ballona Wetlands tidal gate and dredge the Marina del Rey south entrance. Congressman Kuykendall also helped pass a defense authorization bill that directly benefits South Bay companies and saves aerospace jobs- and secured $1 million to help ease traffic congestion around LAX.

Before his election to Congress, Mr. Kuykendall served two terms in the California State Assembly, from 1994 to 1998. During his first term in the state legislature, he served as Republican Whip. He also served on the Banking and Finance, Labor and Employment, Higher Education, and Utilities and Commerce Committees. Mr. Kuykendall demanded a full accounting of legislative spending and oversaw the Assembly's first "clean" fiscal audit in ten years. In addition, he co-authored California's "Megan's Law" and wrote the "Tyler Jaeger Act" to protect children from abuse and child molesters.

Mr. Kuykendall began his public service as councilman and mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes. He has also served as president and trustee of the Peninsula Education Foundation, regional commissioner for AYSO Youth Soccer, chairman of the Palos Verdes Regional Law Enforcement Committee and vice-chairman of the Los Angeles County Emergency Preparedness Commission.

Commissioned as a Marine Corps Second Lieutenant in 1968, Mr. Kuykendall served two tours of duty in Vietnam, participating in the effort to stop the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive in 1972. He rose to the rank of Captain and retired in 1973 after a permanent shoulder injury.

In 1973, Mr. Kuykendall became a businessman working in the commercial and mortgage banking field until 1994. During that time, he founded and served as president of Lockheed Mortgage Corporation, a subsidiary of Lockheed Corporation. He was also a principal with David Buxton Financial Corporation from 1984-1994. Since leaving Congress, he is engaged in local, state and federal government relations as president of Steven T. Kuykendall & Associates.

Congressman Kuykendall holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Oklahoma City University and a Masters of Business Administration from San Diego State University. He is a member of Veterans of Foreign War, American Legion, Navy League, and First Marine Division Association. He and his wife, Jan, moved to Rancho Palos Verdes in 1976, where they have raised their 3 children - Kerry, a pilot in the U.S. Navy; Brent, a school teacher in the South Bay; and Craig, a junior in college.

September 2011

2011 International Policy Conference