As students left campus for spring break, three College alums were gearing up for the prospect of prominent government service.
Jack Ryan '81 received the Republican nomination for this year's Illinois senatorial election following a March 16 primary victory.
James Moriarty '75 of Massachusetts received word on March 18 that he is slated to receive President George Bush's nomination to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Nepal.
North Dakota Republican Governor John Hoeven '79 was declared to be a sure shot for the Republican nomination in the upcoming November gubernatorial race, according to the Bismarck Tribune on March 21.
Ryan graduated from the College summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
After receiving an MBA, Ryan spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs as an associate in its investment banking department, where he made partner before the company went public.
In 2000, Ryan left Goldman Sachs to teach at Hales Franciscan High School, an all African-American, all-boys parochial school on the South Side of Chicago.
Ryan taught classes there in U.S. History, English, Law and SAT preparation for three years.
Political analysts are predicting that Ryan will be an underdog in the general election as he faces off against Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
However, Ryan recently received a potentially powerful endorsement from his successor, Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald '82, in the day following the primary.
Although Fitzgerald initially declined to back any of the eight candidates in the GOP Senate primary, telling Illinois Issues magazine that none focused enough on fighting corruption in the Republican Party, he endorsed Ryan on the March 17.
"I think Jack is not beholden to the special interests," Fitzgerald told the Chicago Daily Herald. "He's his own man, and I think you can count on him to do what he thinks is right."
Moriarty, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, most recently served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia at the National Security Council.
Prior to that position, Moriarty served as the NSC Director for China and Taiwan Affairs.
Moriarty also worked in the Political Section at the American Embassy in Beijing, China earlier in his career.
Hoeven was the top executive of his family's Minot bank before becoming president of the Bank of North Dakota in 1993. He was elected governor in 2000.
During his first bid to become governor, Hoeven campaigned on a promise to improve the state's economy.
As he runs for re-election in November, Hoeven has said stressed that while the rest of the nation was mired in a recession, North Dakota's economy grew by $1.5 billion.
Hoeven has said wages and personal income are growing at double the national average, and noted that North Dakota balanced its budget without a general tax increase.
