[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 7 (Monday, January 31, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JOANNE BENSON

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I ask the Senate to join me today in 
honoring the public life of a Minnesota leader in public affairs and 
public education, Joanne Benson. Some of us will recognize her as a 
former lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, or as a Minnesota State 
Senator. But she is known to hundreds of teachers and children as an 
educator of distinction, imagination, and courage. This month marks her 
retirement as the Chief Education Officer of the Minnesota Business 
Academy charter high school in our capital city of St. Paul.
  Joanne Benson is considered by friends and colleagues to be one of 
the most conscientious and hardworking women in Minnesota--a 
considerable distinction. She was born in Le Sueur, an agricultural 
community, where she learned early the virtue of service to family and 
community. She and her husband, Robert, are the parents of two 
accomplished adult children, for whom education is both a cherished 
value and a professional calling. Her grandchildren are blessed to have 
the benefit of her loving example and guidance.
  Minnesota's historic leadership in education proudly points to 
Joanne's degree from St. Cloud State University, and her eventual 
assistant professorship in the University's College of Education. From 
this service, she went on to become a Minnesota State senator from the 
St. Cloud region that she calls her home. Her work on behalf of 
education policy and community safety brought her to the attention of 
Gov. Arne Carlson, whom she served with distinction as lieutenant 
Governor from 1995 to 1999.
  The State of Minnesota was to have yet greater service from Joanne, 
when at the end of the Carlson administration she became the president 
of the nascent Minnesota Business Academy, a business immersion charter 
high school in downtown St. Paul. MBA serves some of our State's most 
talented and challenged students. The school is the first in the Nation 
to be sponsored by a local Chamber of Commerce and is nationally noted 
for its Star Tracks initiative, teaching and certifying students in the 
personal traits and behaviors essential to success in the business 
workplace.
  With the people of Minnesota, I ask this Chamber to join in 
celebrating the life and service of Joanne Benson, a woman of great 
humor and patience, intelligence and grace, as she takes a well-earned 
retirement from the profession of education.

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