Mark Chelgren
| Eric Mark Chelgren | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the Iowa Senate from the 41st district |
|
|
Assumed office 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Keith Kreiman |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 21, 1968 Ross, California |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Janet |
| Children | Eric, Leah, Makayla, Ryan |
| Residence | Ottumwa, Iowa |
| Alma mater | Riverside Community College |
| Occupation | Legislator |
| Website | www |
Mark Chelgren (born January 21, 1968) is an American politician in Iowa who currently serves in the Iowa Senate. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was elected to the Iowa Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. He represents District 41.
He has drawn controversy for proposing legislation that would cap the percentage difference in political parties of professors and instructors that state universities can hire. He also drew controversy for his claims of having a "business degree" from the "Forbco Management School," which was in fact a manager training course run by a company that operated Sizzler restaurants in southern California.
Chelgren was born in Ross, California on January 21, 1968. He grew up in Huntington Beach, and graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 1986. At the start of his career, Chelgren's employment included manager of a Sizzler restaurant in Torrance, California.
In the 1990s, Chelgren relocated to Iowa, and settled in Vinton. The Iowa Senate Republicans organization states that "Senator Chelgren is an entrepreneur with multiple patents, primarily focused in health care". Chelgren has a patent for a wheelchair shock absorber that is assigned to his company FrogLegs Incorporated and has filed for two patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (patent applications #20100123296 and #20140100490). A patent has not been issued for either application.
As of February 2017, Chelgren's Iowa State Legislature biography lists his education as an A.S. at Riverside Community College and says he attended "University of California" [at Riverside]. His Senate biography used to indicate that he "has a degree in business management from Forbco Management school and attended the University of California at Riverside majoring in astro-physics, geo-physics and mathematics."
Chelgren's education became an issue in 2017 when he proposed a bill to quiz prospective university professors on their political affiliation, and enact a percentage system to ensure that Iowa's institutions of higher learning did not hire what he deemed an inappropriately high percentage of Democrats and liberals. In defending his proposed legislation, Chelgren claimed to have witnessed what he termed excessive liberal advocacy among the professors of the college he attended. Subsequent investigation of his educational background called this claim into question. In February 2017, news accounts revealed that Forbco Management was not an accredited school that awarded degrees but was a company "which ran Sizzler restaurants and a few other different restaurants." Chelgren worked for Forbco as an assistant manager at a Sizzler restaurant while a young adult in California and completed the 6-month course as part of his training.
...
Wikipedia