Norma Champion (born January 21, 1933) is a former children's TV show host and retired university

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

who served as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

in both the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

from 1993 through 2003 and the

Missouri State Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 174,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

from 2003 through 2011. She is a resident of

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. Norma received her master's degree in communications from

Southwest Missouri State College Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

and a Ph.D. in educational communications technology from the University of Oklahoma. She went on to do post-graduate study at the University of London. After completing her studies, she served as professor of Broadcasting and Communication Theory at

Evangel University Evangel University is a private Christian university and seminary in Springfield, Missouri. It is affiliated with the Assemblies of God Christian denomination, which is also headquartered in Springfield. The campus sits on that were originally ...

, and, from 1957 to 1986, was the writer, producer, and host of the television program The Children's Hour on KYTV. In 1987, Norma was elected to the Springfield (MO) city council. She served in that body through 1992, when she was elected to the

, She served in that body through 2002, when she was elected to the

. During her eight years in the Senate, she served on the following committees: *Gubernatorial Appointments *Health, Mental Health, Seniors and Families (chair) *Education (vice chair) *Appropriations *Rules In 2009, Norma was awarded the General Superintendent's Medal of Honor from the

Assemblies of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

Fellowship. In 2011, Norma was named Professor Emerita at Evangel University. On June 7, 2014, Norma was inducted into the Missouri Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame—the first woman to receive this honor.

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