Glenn Beck, Dr. Paige Patterson to address Class of 2010

Well-known radio host Glenn Beck will address Liberty University’s Class of 2010 at Commencement on Saturday, May 15, Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. announced today at Convocation. Joining Beck as a speaker will be Dr. Paige Patterson, the current president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Patterson will also be the keynote speaker at Baccalaureate Service on May 14.

“Liberty University is blessed to have two national conservative leaders speak at our 2010 Commencement ceremony,” Falwell said. “Dr. Patterson is one of the patriarchs of Christian higher education, and Beck is one of the few courageous voices in the national media standing up for the principles upon which this nation was founded. Both speakers continue Liberty’s long tradition of Commencement speakers who are making a positive impact on society in all walks of life.”

Beck’s radio show, “The Glenn Beck Program,” is currently the third-highest rated radio program in the U.S.; his new television show, “Glenn Beck,” is one of the most successful shows on FOX News.

Beck began his media career as a disc jockey when he was just 13. His radio program can now be heard on more than 400 stations across the country. In 2008, he won a top award for Network Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year. He has also appeared on the New York Times Best-Seller list three times for his books “The Real America: Messages from the Heart and the Heartland,” “An Inconvenient Book” and “The Christmas Sweater.”

Beck lives in Connecticut with his wife, Tanya, and his children, Mary, Hannah, Raphe and Cheyenne.

Paige Patterson has been educating pastors and missionaries for more than three decades, having previously served as the president of The Criswell College in Dallas and of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina.

“He was a great friend of my father’s,” Falwell said.

Patterson and his wife have two children — a son, Armour, and a daughter, Carmen — and two grandchildren.

Falwell said it has been tradition for Liberty University to hold a baccalaureate service and a Commencement ceremony.

“The baccalaureate ceremony always includes a gospel message brought by someone who is in complete theological alignment with the university,” Falwell said. “Commencement, however, has always featured leaders from all walks of life and all faiths who share the university’s social values and traditional family values. Commencement speakers have included representatives from the following faiths: Roman Catholicism, Judaism, mainline Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church, and even some speakers with no religious affiliation at all.”