BACCALAUREATE
Saturday, May 16th, 2026
4:00 PM
Packer Memorial Church
Click on link above for the News Release
Timothy Beal
Lehigh University is pleased to announce that Dr. Timothy Beal, Distinguished University Professor, Florence Harkness Professor of Religion, and Director of h.lab at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, will deliver the University’s 2026 BaccalaureateAddress. Baccalaureate, a major University event during commencement weekend, will be heldon Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. in Packer Memorial Church. Reservations are not required.
Timothy Beal is a distinguished religion studies scholar whose teaching, writing and media appearances address the effects of technological innovation on the spiritual and ethical dynamics of modern life. His long-standing interest in the intersection of technology and values. has led him in recent years to investigate such topics as the connections of religion and ecology and AI’s impact on higher education and the humanities.
Professor Beal is the author of seventeen books. His acclaimed 2005 book, Roadside Religion was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a Publisher’s Weekly Best Religion Books of 2005, an Amazon Top Ten Editor’s Pick for Christianity and a nominee for both the Grawemeyer Award and the Pulitzer.Prize. Among recent works are When Time Is Short: Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene and The Book of Revelation: A Biography, for which he
won a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is a frequent lecturer who speaks to a variety of audiences, and his essays and articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Harper’s Magazine, among others. He has been featured on radio shows including NPR's All Things Considered and The Bob Edwards Show.
Rev. Dr. Lloyd Steffen, University Chaplain and Professor of Religion, Culture and Society said Professor Beal is addressing contemporary questions of meaning and value prompted by technological advances. “Professor Beal is proposing thoughtful and concerned responses to such issues as the role of AI in religion, the humanities and higher education.” Steffen added, “He is articulating a moral response to the challenges that technology is today presenting to our traditional value systems. Most importantly, he is pointing to the positive role that higher education can play—the humanities in particular—in the ongoing efforts to expand environmental awareness and assure a peaceful and justice-centered future.”
Professor Beal has various academic initiatives, securing funding for a “Religion, Technology, and Racial Justice” project, and the National Humanities Center provided support for the “Responsible AI Curriculum Design” program he led. The recipient of several teaching awards, an alumnus of the year from Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion, and a Professor of the Year award at Case, Professor Beal received the Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2016. Born in Hood River, Oregan and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Professor Beal is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University. Columbia Theological Seminary, and Emory University, where he
received both the Ph.D, in Religion and a Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies.
WHAT IS BACCALAUREATE ?
Led by University Chaplain Lloyd Steffen, the Baccalaureate program includes outstanding choral music and a presentation or “farewell address” by a person of high distinction to graduating seniors.
The original Baccalaureate ceremony dates back to the 14th Century where it was held at Oxford University.
The Baccalaureate service lasts one hour and begins with a musical prelude slightly before 4:00 p.m. Students representing different religious traditions participate in the program.
Past notes of appreciation received from parents, guests, and students indicate that the service has been a meaningful part of the Commencement activities.
*The service is standing room only. In recent years, speakers have been placed on the patio in front of the church because of the crowd. To be assured a seat, please arrive early.
NEED GRADUATION INFORMATION - CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR GRADUATION SITE
PAST BACCALAUREATE SERVICES
Baccalaureate 2025 - "The Past is Prologue: From Then to Now"
Click above for the video recording
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Jay Parini
The D.E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing,
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont
Baccalaureate 2024 - “The Freedom to Believe (In Yourself)”
Click above for the post Baccalaureate News Article
Saturday, May 18, 2024 
RACHEL LASER
Lehigh University is pleased to announce that Rachel Laser, the President and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, will deliver the University’s 2024 Baccalaureate Address. Baccalaureate, a major University event during commencement weekend, will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2024, at 4:00 p.m. in Packer Memorial Church. Reservations are not required.
Rachel Laser is a lawyer and social justice advocate who has centered her professional life on issues of freedom, equality and inclusion in public policy. To read more about Ms. Laser, please go to the FULL RACHEL LASER article.
Baccalaureate 2023 - “Lincoln’s Struggle for Freedom: ‘Days of Miracles”
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Harold Holzer
Baccalaureate speaker Harold Holzer is a leading authority on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era.
Photo: Contributed
Lincoln expert Harold Holzer, the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, will be Lehigh’s 2023 Baccalaureate speaker. A major university event during Commencement weekend, Baccalaureate will be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, in Packer Memorial Church. Reservations are not required.
Harold Holzer is a leading authority on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. A journalist by background who served for 23 years as senior vice-president for public affairs at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Holzer is author, co-author or editor of 55 books and more than 600 articles and reviews.
Baccalaureate 2022 - “The Warning Label on Your College Diploma”
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Thomas P. Kasulis
CHECK OUT THE BACCALAUREATE ARTICLE IN THE LEHIGH NEWS SECTION HERE
Lehigh University is pleased to announce that the 2022 Baccalaureate Speaker will be Professor Thomas P. Kasulis, an internationally renowned philosophy and religion scholar widely regarded as having opened up the field of Japanese philosophy to the English-speaking world. Professor emeritus of Comparative Studies and University Distinguished Scholar at the Ohio State University, Professor Kasulis has taught and lectured around the world, having established himself as a foremost interpreter of Japanese thought and culture. A clear and creative thinker known for “wearing his erudition lightly,” as one critic put it, and for his entertaining style of presentation, Professor Kasulis will address graduating seniors and their families at the Baccalaureate service to be held on May 22 at 4:00 PM in Packer Memorial Church.
Baccalaureate 2021
Sunday, May 23, 2021
E.J. Dionne
Virtual Baccalaureate
E.J. Dionne, Jr. is an internationally-recognized journalist, political commentator, thought-leader, and professor. His career began in 1975 when he went to work for the New York Times covering state, local, and national politics and also serving as a foreign correspondent. He reported from more than two dozen countries, including extended periods in Paris, Rome, and Beirut. He joined the Washington Post in 1990 as a political reporter and has been writing a twice-weekly column for the Post since 1993. It is syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group and appears in more than 250 newspapers. Dionne is a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at Georgetown University, where he teaches in the McCourt School of Public Policy and the Government Department. Dionne is a regular political analyst for MSNBC and NPR’s All Things Considered. He is the author of seven books, most recently the New York Times bestseller One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate and the Not-Yet Deported, co-authored with Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann.
Baccalaureate 2020
Cancelled due to COVID19
Baccalaureate 2019
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Dr. Gary Dorrien
Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and
Professor of Religion at Columbia University
Lehigh News Article
Gary Dorrien and Lloyd Steffen
Baccalaureate Service Address given by Dr. Gary Dorrien
Audio address available upon request.
Baccalaureate 2018
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Dr. Stephen Prothero
C. Allyn and Elizabeth V. Russell Professor of Religion at Boston University
Lehigh News Article
Lloyd Steffen, Walead Mosaad, and Stephen Prothero
Baccalaureate Service Address given by Dr. Stephen Prothero
Recorded at Packer Memorial Church, May 20, 2018: AUDIO LINK
Baccalaureate 2017
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Dr. John L. Esposito
Professor of Religion, Georgetown University
Lehigh News Article
Lloyd Steffen, John Esposito, and Danielle Stillman
Baccalaureate Service Address given by Dr. John L. Espositio
Recorded at Packer Memorial Church, May 21, 2017: AUDIO LINK.
Baccalaureate 2016
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Dr. Charles Johnson
Author and professor emeritus at the University of Washington
Lehigh News Article
Lloyd Steffen, Charles R. Johnson and Danielle Stillman
Baccalaureate Service Address given by Dr. Charles R. Johnson
Recorded at Packer Memorial Church, May 22, 2016: AUDIO LINK.
Baccalaureate 2015
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Dr. Eric Foner
DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, Columbia University
Lehigh News Article
Eric Foner and Lloyd Steffen
Baccalaureate Service Address given by Dr. Eric Foner
Recorded at Packer Memorial Church, May 17, 2015: AUDIO LINK.
Baccalaureate 2014
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Professor Arvind Sharma
Professor Arvind Sharma, McGill University
Lehigh News Article
Arvind Sharma, Lloyd Steffen and Danielle Stillman
Baccalaureate 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
James Carroll
Author, journalist, historian
Lehigh News Article
James Carroll and Lloyd Steffen
Baccalaureate 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Jody Williams
1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Lehigh News Article
Jody Williams and Lloyd Steffen
2011
Professor Rosemary Radford Ruether, Claremont University
Lehigh News Article
2010
Dr. Daniel Callahan, Hastings Center and Yale University
Lehigh News Article
2009
Professor Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago
Lehigh News Article
2008
Tenzin Robert Thurman, Columbia University
Lehigh News Article
2007
Professor Harvey Cox, Harvard Divinity School
2006
Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Diocese of Newark (ret.)
2005
Dean William A. Graham, Harvard Divinity School
2004
Professor Mark Jeurgensmeyer, U California, Santa Barbara
2003
Professor Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago
2002
Professor Diana Eck, Harvard University
2001
Dr. Rebecca Chopp, Provost, Emory University
2000
Professor Tu Wei Ming, Harvard University
1999
Rev. Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, Chaplain, U.S. Senate
1998
Professor David Tracy, University of Chicago
1997
Professor Peter Paris, Princeton Theological Seminary
1996
Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University
1995
Rev. Will Willimon, University Chaplain, Duke University
1994
Professor Phyllis Trible, Union Theological Seminary
1993
Dean Robert C. Neville, Boston University
1992
Professor Cornel West, Princeton University
1991
Rev. James Forbes, Riverside Church, New York, NY