May 3, 2013
Mary Scott Hunter, a member of the Alabama State Board of Education, will deliver the keynote address at the commencement exercises of Bishop State Community College on Tuesday, May 7. The event will take place in the arena of the Mobile Civic Center at 6:00 p.m. Two hundred ninety-four (294) students are candidates for degrees or certificate this year. Ten members of the Class of 1963 are expected to receive diplomas during commencement exercises in recognition of their matriculation at Bishop State 50 years ago.
Hunter will be introduced by Ella B. Bell, President Pro Tem of the Alabama State Board of Education. Bell represents the Fifth District, which includes Autauga, Bullock, Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Pike, Sumter, Washington, Wilcox, and a portion of Mobile counties.
Hunter represents District 8, which includes Limestone, Madison, Jackson, DeKalb, and Etowah counties. She grew up on the Alabama Gulf Coast. She graduated cum laude from The University of Alabama in 1995 and continued her education at The University of Alabama School of Law. After graduating from law school in 1998, Hunter was commissioned as a United States Air Force Lieutenant. She served ten years as an Air Force Judge Advocate General. As a military attorney, she first served in the active duty Air Force, then in the Reserves, and finally in the Alabama Air National Guard - attaining the rank of Major. Her assignments included two overseas tours to Korea and Germany and a wartime deployment to the Middle East. She received military awards including the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Overseas Short Tour Ribbon, and a Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon.
Hunter and her husband, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jon Shultz, jointly own a small company, Torel Technology, LLC. They have three children, two boys and a girl, ages 9, 6 and 5. The family attends Trinity United Methodist Church where Hunter teaches adult Sunday School and serves in Leadership.
Hunter and her husband, Jon, returned to Alabama in 2006 after serving out their last active duty Air Force assignment in Germany. Upon return, Hunter spent the next six years practicing law in a private firm before recently joining the Executive Team of Intuitive Research and Technology where she advises and leads the company’s business interests in Compliance, Ethics and Risk. In November 2009, she announced her candidacy for the Alabama State Board of Education, and in November 2010, she was elected to the position.
Her parents are Scott Hunter, former University of Alabama and NFL championship quarterback, and Deborah Hunter of Daphne, Alabama. Hunter is a proud product of Alabama public schools. She has a vested interest in the strength of Alabama's education system with her children in public elementary school. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Association of School Boards, and she has been described as a “servant leader.” Her core values are Integrity, Service and Excellence. “I love this state and its citizens," Hunter said in a recent short biography. "I believe education should prepare students for a good job and that people are fulfilled when they are working at their full potential. The quality of our education foretells our future prosperity,” she said.
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