Joyce Cusack
Encyclopedia
Joyce Marie Cusack is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician. She is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...

, representing the 27th District and a member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. Her district covered a part of Volusia County, Florida
Volusia County, Florida
Volusia County is a county located in the state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 official county's population was 494,593 . Its county seat is DeLand, and its most populous city is currently Deltona....

.

Cusack was born in New Smyrna Beach, Florida
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
New Smyrna Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. The population was 20,048 according to the 2000 census. As of 2007, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 23,161.-History:...

, and resides in DeLand, Florida
DeLand, Florida
DeLand is the county seat of Volusia County, Florida. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 24,375. It is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 436,575 in 2006...

. She received her Associate's degree
Associate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years...

 in Nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....

 from Daytona Beach Community College (now Daytona State College) in 1971 and her Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 from Saint Leo University
Saint Leo University
Saint Leo University is a private, non-profit, Roman Catholic liberal arts university established in 1889 and located in Saint Leo, Florida, 35 miles north of Tampa. The University is associated with the Holy Name Monastery, a Benedictine convent, and Saint Leo Abbey, a Benedictine monastery...

 in Saint Leo, Florida in 1984.

She was first elected to the House in 2000, when she defeated Pat Patterson for the District 26 seat, and was subsequently re-elected in 2004.

Some of the committees that Cusack was affiliated with were Trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

 and Banking, Health Care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

 General, Select Committee on Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...

 Reform
Reform
Reform means to put or change into an improved form or condition; to amend or improve by change of color or removal of faults or abuses, beneficial change, more specifically, reversion to a pure original state, to repair, restore or to correct....

, Spaceport
Spaceport
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching spacecraft, by analogy with seaport for ships or airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories...

 and Technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

, State Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

 Council, Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations
Appropriation (law)
In law and government, appropriation is the act of setting apart something for its application to a particular usage, to the exclusion of all other uses....

.

She was married to Charles Cusack Jr. (deceased), and has two grown daughters, and three grandchildren. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...

 sorority.

Cusack was re-elected to a fourth term in the Florida House, beating former Ormond Beach Mayor Dave Hood with about 63 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results on November 7, 2006. Her victory led a trend of incumbent representatives winning re-election to the Florida House of Representatives. She currently serves as the Democratic Leader pro tempore of the Florida House, making her the number two ranking Democratic member.

Cusack, who was awarded an honorary doctorate degree at Bethune-Cookman University, left the Florida Legislature in May 2008, due to term limits. As of November 2010
November 2010
November 2010 was the eleventh month of that year. It began on a Monday and ended after 30 days on a Tuesday.-Portal:Current events:This is an archived version of Wikipedia's Current events Portal from November 2010....

, she won the Volusia County Council at-large seat over her Republican opponent, an avowed tax-cutter and government-shrinker.

External links

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