| Senator Missy Thomas Irvin is serving her fourth term in the Arkansas
Senate representing Senate District 18, which includes Cleburne,
Stone, and Searcy Counties and portions of Baxter, Faulkner, Fulton,
Marion, Van Buren and White Counties.
She is chair of the Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee
and Senate vice chair of the Joint Budget Committee. She is a member
of the Legislative Council, the Senate Insurance and Commerce
Committee and the Joint Performance Review Committee.
She is the State Chair for the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC).
Senator Irvin is a founding board member of the Human Rights for Kids
Organization.
Senator Irvin was first elected to the Senate in 2010, as the first
Republican to hold the seat since Reconstruction in 1874. She was also
the first woman and the first resident of Stone County to hold the seat.
She was also the youngest woman ever elected to the Arkansas Senate,
at the age of 39.
Senator Irvin's political interest began as a presidential campaign
volunteer at the age of 9 for Ronald Reagan in Arkansas. She
volunteered for Sheffield Nelson's first campaign for Governor, and
then worked for Sheffield Nelson's second campaign for Governor in
1994 as Special Events Coordinator and Assistant Finance Director.
In 2000, Irvin served her brother, Bob Thomas, as campaign manager
for his Second District US Congressional Campaign.
Raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Senator Irvin graduated from Mount
Saint Mary Academy. After traveling to the Soviet Union, East & West
Berlin with her international relations teacher, Irvin decided to major
in political science. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a triple
major in Political Science, Communications and Dance with a Minor in
Art History from Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg,
Virginia. She also attended the University of Reading and Oxford
University in England.
Upon graduation, Irvin was selected as a scholarship recipient to the
American Dance Festival held at Duke University.
Her professional background includes working as a news editor for
KATV-Channel 7 News, as Marketing Director for Tipton & Hurst,
Marketing Director and Director of Research & Development for Stone
County Ironworks and Calico Rock Ironworks, Adjunct Professor of
Dance at Hendrix College and Director of Department of Dance at
Hendrix College. She currently works with her husband and is the
Marketing Director of Irvin-Dibrell Clinic in Mountain View, Arkansas.
Her extensive volunteer activities include coordinating the first three
years of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life for Stone County,
creating and coordinating After Dark in the Park for the Ozark Folk
Center, and supporting the Music Roots Program. She has served as a
parent representative for the school in the implementation of the EAST
program.
She was a founding board member and a past president of the Mountain
View Youth Soccer Association, a Vice-President of the Arkansas State
Soccer Association and has worked as a AAA registered volunteer
soccer coach for the Mountain View High School.
In 2008, Senator Irvin received the Presidential Award for her
volunteer work in the community.
In 2010, she was named Coach of the Year by the Arkansas State
Soccer Association for her commitment to coaching girls recreational
soccer and founding the soccer program at the Mountain View High
School. She is a member of the Heber Springs Rotary Club, Farm
Bureau, Chapter DK of P.E.O., where she served as a President, and
the Stone County Republican Committee.
Senator Irvin has received numerous awards and recognition for her
service, both statewide and nationally. In 2017, she received the
Arkansas Rural Advocate of the Year from the Arkansas Rural Economic
Development Commission. Also in 2017, Senator Irvin received a
national Justice Award from the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing for
Minors in Washington
DC. Other awards include-
- 2015 Arkansas Cattleman's Association Legislator of the Year
- 2011 & 2013 Advocate of Justice Award, Arkansas Prosecuting
Attorneys Association
- 2011 Service Award for supporting persons with mental illness &
substance abuse disorders,
Health Resources of Arkansas
- 2012 Acting Out Against Hunger Award, Arkansas Huger Relief
Alliance
- 2013 Outstanding Leadership Recognition, Arkansas Medical Society
- 2013 Star Award for Juvenile Justice Work, Arkansas Advocates for
Children & Families
- 2013 Friend of Freedom Award, Advance Arkansas Institute
- 2013 & 2015 Distinguished Legislator Award, Arkansas Municipal
League
- 2013 Recognition for work in Public Health, Arkansas Body
Modification Association
Senator Irvin and her husband, Dr. John Dawson Irvin, have lived in
Mountain View for more than 22 years. They are members of First
United Methodist Church of Mountain View. |