Mark Kirk  Mark Steven Kirk (born September 15, 1959) is an American politician who was the junior United States Senator from Illinois from 2010 to 2017. A Republican, Kirk was previously a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 10th congressional district. Kirk is a social liberal and fiscal conservative. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Kirk graduated from Cornell University, the London School of Economics, and Georgetown University Law Center. He practiced law throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He joined the United States Navy Reserve as a Direct Commission Officer in the Intelligence career field in 1989 and was recalled to active duty for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. He participated in Operation Northern Watch in Iraq the following year. He attained the rank of Commander and retired from the Navy Reserve in 2013. Kirk was elected to the House in 2000. During his fifth term in November 2010, he won two concurrent elections: to finish the final months of former Senator Barack Obama's term and to serve the next six-year term. He was sworn in on November 29, 2010, and began a six-year Senate term in January 2011. In January 2012, Kirk suffered a stroke, and a full year passed before he returned to his Senatorial duties. In 2016, Kirk ran for re-election to a second term, but was defeated by Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth. Kirk was born in Champaign, Illinois, the son of Judith Ann (Brady) and Francis Gabriel "Frank" Kirk. After graduating from New Trier East High School in 1977 he attended Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois, for two years, before briefly attending Autonomous University of Mexico and subsequently transferring to Cornell University, where he graduated "cum laude" with a B.A. in History. While at Cornell University, Kirk served as the president of the Seal and Serpent social fraternity. Kirk later obtained a master's degree from the London School of Economics and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Georgetown University Law Center. While Kirk was an undergraduate student at Cornell University he held a work–study job supervising a play group at the Forest Home Chapel nursery school. After getting his master's degree, Kirk taught for one year at a private school in London. He later stated in speeches and interviews that he had been a nursery and middle school teacher. A leader at the church which housed the nursery school expressed her belief that Kirk overstated his role there, saying Kirk was "just an additional pair of hands to help a primary teaching person."