Topeka ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Friday appointed Melissa Taylor Standridge to the state Court of Appeals.

Standridge, a chambers counsel for U.S. Magistrate Judge David Waxse in the District of Kansas, will fill a new position created by the Legislature last year.

She would be up for a retention vote in 2010.

The Overland Park resident earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from the Kansas University and her law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

She served two years as chambers counsel for U.S. District Judge Elmo Hunter in the District of Western Missouri before spending four years in private practice.