Rep. Jayapal Speaks at the Opening Ceremony of the Pan-American Congress in Uruguay

Hoyas (Georgetown Univ. Alumni) Serving the Nation

Serving one’s country, whether defined by being elected to Congress, serving in key positions in the administration, working on congressional staffs, in government agencies, or abroad as part of the nation’s foreign policy apparatus, remains for many of our alumni a lasting tribute to the education they received on the “other” Hilltop. [Updated: Jan. 3, 2025]

U.S. Senate

• Senator Jon Ossoff, D-GA (SFS’09)
• Senator Dan Sullivan, R-AK (G’93, L’93)
• Senator Christopher Van Hollen, D-MD (L’90)
• Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-AK (C’80)
• ​Senator John Barrasso, R-WY (C’74, M ’78)
• Senator Mazie Hirono, D-HI (L’78)
• Senator Richard Durbin, D-IL (SFS’66, L’69)

U.S. House of Representatives

• The Honorable Chris Deluzio, D-PA (L’13)
• The Honorable Patrick “Pat” Ryan, D-NY (SSP’13)
• The Honorable Mike Turner, R-OH (Ph.D.’22)
• The Honorable August Pfluger, R-TX (IBP’19)
• The Honorable Rebecca “Mikie” Sherrill, D-NJ (L’07)
• The Honorable Bryan Steil, R-WI (B’03)
• The Honorable Debbie Dingell, D-MI (SFS’75, SCS’98)
• The Honorable Lori Trahan, D-MA (SFS’95)
• The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY (MPP’94)
• The Honorable Laura Gillen, D-NY (C’91)
• The Honorable Ted Lieu, D-CA (L’94)
• The Honorable Sam Liccardo, D-CA (C’91)
• The Honorable Stacey Plaskett, D-VI (SFS’88)
• The Honorable Pramila Jayapal, D-WA (C’86)
• The Honorable Derek Schmidt, R-KS (L’96)
• The Honorable Henry Cuellar, D-TX (SFS’78)
• The Honorable Lois Frankel, D-FL (L’73)
• The Honorable Steny Hoyer, D-MD (L ’66)
• The Honorable April McClain Delaney, D-MD (L’89)
• The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-DC (Former Faculty, L)
• The Honorable Lauren Underwood, D-IL (Former Faculty, NHS)

Source

P.S. 

Outspoken Congresspeople highlighted in red. 

Democrat Mikie Sherrill elected governor of New Jersey

 Democrat Mikie Sherrill elected governor of New Jersey

Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli in race that suggests Democratic resilience amid Trump’s second term

Jake Wasserman in East Brunswick

Tue 4 Nov 2025 21.34 EST

Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill was elected on Tuesday to be the 57th governor of New Jersey, defeating Jack Ciattarelli, a former state representative and Republican, in a race that suggested the resilience of the party after Donald Trump’s return to office.

The Associated Press called the race for Sherrill just two hours after polls closed.

Source

---------------:---------------

Early life

Mikie Sherrill was born in Alexandria, Virginia.[2] She grew up in various locations along the East Coast of the United States due to her father's job.[2][6]

Sherrill is a graduate of South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia.[7][8] In 1994, she earned her Bachelor of Science from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.[1] In 2003, Sherrill received an MSc in international and world history from the London School of Economics. In 2004, she received a certificate in Arabic language from the American University in Cairo. In 2007, Sherrill earned a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.[9]

Wikipedia

Former homeless student turned future Georgetown University grad: 'Your blessing is there waiting for you'

By abby cruz 

May 11, 2019, 8:56 AM ET

Homeless Student Gives Valedictory Speech



As she sat in the well-appointed "commuter lounge" of Georgetown University, Rashema Melson drank in her surroundings as she drank an ice cold bottle of mineralized, specialty water.

“It’s hot, I’m tired, and my feet hurt,” Melson, 23, said as she waved her hand to cool herself off. She lounged with her feet just shy of the edge of the furniture. “But my feet have survived worst stuff than this, I still walk around barefoot until this day and people look at me like I’m crazy but if they only knew what I’ve been through."

Melson, who was born and raised in southeast Washington, D.C., has lived a majority of her life in either a homeless shelter, public housing, and even an abandoned house at one point, will be the first in her family to graduate from college when she crosses the stage at Georgetown University next Saturday. After attending three different high schools, Melson was the valedictorian of her class at Anacostia High School and earned a full scholarship to college. 

 

ABC News Rashema Melson talks to ABC's Robin Roberts in 2014 about how she overcame homelessness to graduate at the top of her Jacksonville, Fla. high school class.more + 

Next week she will receive her bachelor's degree in justice and peace studies from Georgetown University something she says she didn’t believe was possible because of the many struggles she has encountered in her life.

“My life has always been rough,” Melson said. “Homeless or not, in southeast, it’s rough regardless, the circumstances are just rough due to the fact that we don’t have the tools or resources as everyone else,” she said as she twirled her finger around in a circle pointing at her surroundings on campus – a lush enclave filled with stone buildings and modern amenities.

Along with having to constantly change schools, she said she was never able to keep a steady friendship with her classmates or let alone a steady relationship with anyone except her mother and siblings. Her mother was a single mother, Melson and her siblings have different fathers which Melson says are each “either dead or in jail.”

“People really emphasizes a lot on the homelessness because that’s what grabbed their attention but there’s a lot that I don’t share,” she says. She explains her time being homeless is like anyone else who has been in a similar situation.

At times she slept on a cot shared between her and her siblings waking up to the sting of bed bug bites. She has taken what she describes as “three-minute showers” due to not having hot water. And she ate food straight out of a can with a spoon because there were no plates to eat on.

But besides the homelessness, Melson said she has suffered from bulimia, has caused herself self-harm, and was also a victim of sexual assault something that she is still very hard for her to discuss.

“It’s just so much and I think that’s what people don’t understand when you are going through circumstances it’s just not one thing there is A LOT going on,” she says.

Nearly 10 Percent of the 113th U.S. Congress Hail From Jesuit Institutions

10 January 2013

Among the 535 members of the 113th U.S. Congress that were sworn in on January 3, 52 are alumni of Jesuit colleges and universities, comprising almost 10 percent of the entire Congress. There are 11 Jesuit alumni serving in the Senate and 41 in the House of Representatives.

Congressman John Boehner (R-OH, Xavier University, Cincinnati, alumnus) is serving his second term as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., alumnus) continues to serve as the House Minority Whip. In the Senate, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL, Georgetown University alumnus) continues his service as the Assistant Majority Leader.

Of the 52 alumni, nine were elected in 2012. Of the newly-elected alumni, Representative Juan C. Vargas (D-CA, Fordham University, N.Y., alumnus) was once a Jesuit in studies for the priesthood before leaving the Society.

There are currently 14 Jesuit institutions represented by alumni in the U.S. Congress. Georgetown University has the most alumni with a total of 21, followed by Boston College with 7 and Fordham University with 5. The College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.) has 4, Creighton University (Omaha, Neb.) has 3 and Loyola University Chicago, Saint Peter’s University (Jersey City, N.J.) and University of Detroit Mercy all have two alumni represented. The remaining schools with alumni in Congress are Loyola University Maryland, Marquette University (Milwaukee), Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia), Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, Calif.), Wheeling Jesuit University (Wheeling, W.V.) and Xavier University.

“We are proud that nearly 10 percent of Congress are alumni of Jesuit colleges and universities,” said Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) President Jesuit Father Gregory Lucey. “We are grateful for their leadership, and we look forward to strengthening the excellent working relationships we have already established with those in Congress and forging ties with new members of the 113th Congress.”

President Barack Obama has also appointed several Jesuit college and university alumni to serve in key leadership positions. Members of the Obama administration from AJCU institutions include Department of Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta (Santa Clara University); Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano (Santa Clara University); and White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew (Georgetown University).

To download the full list of Jesuit alumni in the 113th U.S. Congress, click here. [Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities]

Source

.

Georgetown Law Alumnus Jacob "Jack" Lew (L'83) Nominated as Treasury Secretary

January 10, 2013 —

Jacob "Jack" Lew (L'83)

President Barack Obama has nominated White House Chief of Staff Jacob “Jack” Lew (L’83) to be the next Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury. The nomination is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

“I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to Jack Lew,” said Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor. “Jack’s leadership and distinguished achievements exemplify Georgetown Law’s commitment to public service.”

Admired by both parties for his budgetary prowess, Lew began his career in Washington in the 1970s. As a principal domestic policy adviser to Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr., he served as assistant director and later executive director of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

Lew was special assistant to President Clinton in 1993 and 1994 before joining the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He served as executive associate director, associate director for legislative affairs and deputy director before Clinton nominated him OMB director in 1998. He served in this capacity through the remainder of Clinton’s second term, and President Obama nominated him to this position again in 2010. Before returning to OMB, Lew was the chief operating officer at the State Department while serving as the first deputy secretary of state for management and resources.

In 2012, Obama named Lew White House Chief of Staff.

Source

.

IRLA Announces New United Nations Representative

1 October 2009, Silver Spring, MD—A veteran religious freedom advocate has returned to the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) to represent the organization at the United Nations.

James D. Standish, Esq., formerly longtime IRLA representative to the United States government, spent the past year as executive director of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent non-partisan federal agency advising the White House and Congress.

“We’re delighted to have James back with our team,” said Dr. John Graz, secretary-general of the IRLA. “He is very much at home, but at the same time at the start of an entirely new professional challenge.”

The IRLA has long maintained an office in New York, and holds special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.




James Standish, in the hall of the UN General Assembly on 23 Sep 09, listened to speeches by world leaders, including US president Barack Obama and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.


The IRLA’s involvement with the United Nations stretches back to its inception. As a young man, Dr. Bert B. Beach, previous IRLA secretary-general, met with Eleanor Roosevelt and other key players who were instrumental in the creation of the United Nations. Dr. Gianfranco Rossi and other leading IRLA figures have been engaged at the UN ever since.

Since coming to his new role on 28 August, Standish, 45, has wasted no time jumping into the fray. In his first four weeks on the job, he participated in the IRLA Meeting of Experts in Washington, DC, presented at the second IRLA symposium in Seoul, Korea, represented the IRLA at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, the Organization for Security & Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Warsaw and the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“There are many issues at play at the UN that the IRLA must influence,” notes Standish. “From the effort to curtail freedom of religious speech, to the UN Human Rights Council comprehensive periodic review of nations’ human rights records, the door is wide open and the stakes are high.”

In addition to his work with the IRLA, Standish is a member of the White House Task Force on Interfaith Dialogue & Cooperation, sits on the board of the First Freedom Center in Richmond, Virginia, and directs the UN liaison office of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s world headquarters. Standish earned his juris doctor, cum laude, from Georgetown University, his MBA from the University of Virginia, and his BBA from Newbold College, England. He has lived in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Great Britain and the U.S., and has traveled widely.


Source: http://irla.org/index.php?id=374


Note: Bolds and Highlights added.

.