[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5748]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNIZING DR. ROBERT SPENCE

 Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I wish to honor Dr. Robert H. 
Spence, who is retiring as president of Evangel University after 40 
years of dedicated service in that role--making him the longest tenured 
college president in the State of Missouri and one of the longest 
tenured college presidents in the United States.
  Under his vision and leadership over the last 40 years, Evangel has 
been transformed from what was once a World War II-era Army hospital 
campus--complete with metal huts--into a modern institution with a 
dozen new facilities. Today, Evangel boasts an impressive campus with 
two residence halls, a 2,200 seat chapel, a state-of-the-art fitness 
center, dining hall, student union, fine arts center, two major 
classroom buildings and a 66,000-square-foot administration building. 
The expansion of facilities reflects the fact that Evangel's enrollment 
has doubled, and the school has added nine masters programs. With Dr. 
Spence at the helm, Evangel University has flourished.
  Evangel is located in my hometown of Springfield, MO, so I have 
personally witnessed the growth and development of the university and 
can attest to Dr. Spence's dynamic leadership and commitment. He is 
active in the community, serving on numerous boards and institutions, 
dedicating his time and energy to Springfield's citizens on- and off-
campus. In recognition of his community work, the Springfield Area 
Chamber of Commerce, where Dr. Spence once served as chairman of the 
board, honored him for a ``Career of Character,'' naming him 
Springfieldian of the Year in 2004. In 2012 he received the Springfield 
Business Journal's Lifetime Achievement in Business Award. These 
recognitions are well deserved.
  I join many other community leaders in Springfield in thanking Dr. 
Spence for his lifetime of work as an inspirational minister, 
messenger, and educator. As a former university president, I applaud 
him for his commitment to Evangel University over the last four 
decades. I have always relied on Dr. Spence's sound counsel and 
judgment and wish him and his wife Ann a long and enjoyable retirement. 
They have certainly earned this time to relax.

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