By Mike Greife,
April 23, 2018
WARRENSBURG, MO – Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander became the 33rd
recipient of the James C. Kirkpatrick Excellence in Governance Award presented by
the University of Central Missouri Student Government Association in a ceremony April
19 in the James C. Kirkpatrick Library on the UCM campus.
Kander received the award for his commitment to excellence and integrity in government.
He was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives from the 44th District in
2009, and was elected Missouri Secretary of State in 2012, serving until January 2017.
A U.S. Army ROTC graduate, he served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 2003 to 2011,
attaining the rank of Captain. In addition to his service in Afghanistan, he served
as an instructor for the Missouri National Guard’s Officer Candidate School at Fort
Leonard Wood, Mo. In 2010, Kander was named one of 10 finalists for the Army Reserve
Association’s Maj. Gen. Strom Thurmond Outstanding Junior Office of the Year Award.
In 2017 Kander founded the Let America Vote initiative to fight against proposals
across the country that seek to restrict access to voting by qualified voters. He
recently was appointed by the Democratic National Committee to chair of the Commission
to Protect American Democracy.
Kander is a graduate of American University and Georgetown Law School.
After presentation of the award by UCM President Chuck Ambrose, Kander encouraged
his audience to remain confident in the promise of America and to serve wherever they
find the opportunity.
“Find whatever allows you to have hope, and attach your hope to it,” he said. “It
can be what you do right here in your hometown. You don’t have to leave to find it.
Be patient and persistent. It may not happen quickly, or even while you are serving
in office. Your generation has enormous promise. Try to make your community and your
country a better place.”
The James C. Kirkpatrick Excellence in Governance Award honors the legacy of the late
James C. Kirkpatrick, who served as Missouri’s secretary of state from 1965 to 1985,
establishing the Missouri record for tenure of an elected state officeholder. An alumnus
of UCM and former member and president of the university’s Board of Regents, Kirkpatrick
was named UCM’s Distinguished University Fellow upon his retirement and return to
Warrensburg from Jefferson City.
Past recipients of the award include U.S. Congressman Ike Skelton, U.S. Congressman
Emanuel Cleaver, U.S. Sen. John Danforth, Gov. Mel Carnahan, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt,
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Missouri Attorney
General Chris Koster, Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbetts III, and Missouri State Sen. David
Pearce.
