Central Methodist University will mark the annual celebration of Constitution Day this year with a special guest lecture by Associate Circuit Judge Kristen Burks. The talk, scheduled for 7 p.m. on September 17, will be titled “The Significance of the US Constitution in a Changing American Society.”
Burks was raised in St. Joseph, Mo. and attended the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she received her B.A. in Spanish in 1996. In 1999, she graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and began work in the Domestic Violence Unit at Legal Aid of Western Missouri.
She later accepted a position as a Jackson County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in the Domestic Violence Unit in 2005. Following an 18-month stint at home with three young children, she relocated with her family to Macon County, where she worked as an associate at Briggs & Reuschel, LLC before opening the firm of Meisner & Burks, LLC in 2010.
Burks worked primarily in the area of family law in her private practice while also serving as the Macon County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and attorney for the Macon County Juvenile Office. In January of 2019, she took the bench as the Associate Circuit Judge for Macon County. She was re-elected to the position in 2022.
Burks has been married to her husband, Matt, since 1996. They have three children: Sofia, Joe, and Stella. The family resides in Macon.
The lecture to commemorate National Constitution Day will be held in the Inman Lecture Hall (Stedman 200). The event, organized by the CMU political science department, will be open to the public.