A former congressman will be joining the Jacksonville University (JU) board of trustees.
On Wednesday, Tim Cost, the president of JU, announced that former U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Penn., and educator Cynthia Chomiak, who graduated from JU in 1983, will join the board starting on Jan. 30.
These are two extremely strong additions to our board, and we are very grateful they are bringing their considerable skills to our university at an important time of major upgrades to our personnel, programs and facilities, said Cost on Wednesday.
First elected to Congress in 2006, Altmire served until 2012 when, in the aftermath of redistricting, he was defeated in the primary by then-U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Penn., by 2 percent in a rare match-up of two congressional incumbents.
Now working for Florida Blue as a senior vice president of public policy and community engagement, Altmire has plenty of North Florida ties. He graduated from Florida State University in 1990 and played football for Bobby Bowdens Seminoles. After helping on the campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Bill Grant, R-Fla., Altmire went to work for then-U.S. Rep. Pete Peterson, D-Fla., as an aide.
During his time in Congress, Altmire was seen as a moderate Democrat and focused on health care issues. Altmire did not miss a single vote during his first two terms, eventually assembling a streak of 4,734 consecutive votes. That calls to mind another former congressman with ties to JU: the late former U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett, D-Fla., who had the longest string of recorded roll call votes in congressional history while representing Jacksonville and the First Coast in Congress. After retiring in 1992, Bennett went on to work for JU.
Cost praised Altmires record as he readies for his new task.
Jason has a stellar record and national reputation on issues extremely important to the university, including higher education, military service and fiscal responsibility, Cost said.
For his part, Altmire said JU is headed in the right direction.
It is amazing to see the incredible progress that has been made on the campus and within the academic leadership and student body over the past few years, Altmire said. I am excited to join the board of such a high-performing university and look forward to helping guide the innovation and advancement of this outstanding institution in the years to come.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN. From 2002-2004, Kevin worked at JU as an assistant registrar.
