U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, the first graduate of East Tennessee State University to be elected to the United States Congress, will return to his alma mater to deliver the commencement address at the university’s fall convocation on Saturday, Dec. 13.
Keller, who represents the 8th District of Florida, was born in Johnson City and grew up in Orlando, where he graduated from William R. Boone High School in 1982. He attended ETSU and graduated at the top of his class with a 4.0 grade point average in December 1986, receiving a bachelor of science degree in speech communication. He went on to study law, earning his doctor of jurisprudence at Vanderbilt University and becoming a partner in a large Orlando law firm.
In November 2000, Keller was an underdog Republican candidate who narrowly won his election to Congress with 50.8 percent of the vote. Two years later, he was re-elected by a landslide, garnering 65 percent of the vote.
Keller represents the people of the Greater Orlando area and sits on the House Education and Judiciary committees. In addition, as chairman of the Congressional Pell Grant Caucus, Keller has fought to increase Pell Grants to help children from low-income families attend college. Since the congressman’s first election over three years ago, Pell Grant funding has increased 62 percent.
Keller has appeared on television programs such as NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno,” the Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” “ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” and “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.”
ETSU’s commencement exercises will begin at 10 a.m. on Dec. 13 in Memorial Center (the Mini-Dome). Degrees will be awarded to the 2003 fall semester and summer term graduates.

Author