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In a campus-wide email announcing the news, Paulson commented on being named speaker.

“I’m honored to serve as commencement speaker at Buena Vista University and look forward to the opportunity to visit with the emerging generation of smart and engaged students on this vibrant campus,” Paulson said.

BVU President Fred Moore was also quoted, indicating his pleasure in welcoming Paulson and his message to BVU.

“Throughout his career Ken Paulson has been an influential advocate for First Amendment rights,” Moore said. “We are extremely fortunate to have our Commencement day fit in with his busy schedule and look forward to his message to our Class of 2013.”

Associate Professor of Digital Media Dr. Andrea Frantz, herself a First Amendment scholar and advocate as well instructor of a media law and ethics class being offered this spring, has worked with Paulson before and is excited he is coming to speak at BVU.

“Ken is one of three gentlemen who really influenced my entire career and the trajectory of my career,” Frantz said.

In the early 2000s, Frantz attended trainings led by Paulson at the Freedom Forum and at the First Amendment Center designed to teach educators how to teach about law.

“I went to this training, and he did this big session on the First Amendment and I was hooked,” she said. “He…lit a fire in me at that point, and I realized this could be the thing I become most excited about teaching.”

Frantz brought Paulson as a keynote speaker at her former campus and noted that he does not accept speaking fees.

“What he does is he educates. The First Amendment Center is all about public education, and he see this as furthering what he does to educate the masses about these issues,” Frantz said.

While she doesn’t know the exact amount, Frantz said it was likely that rather than paying Paulson an honorarium as is traditional for speakers, BVU will donate to the First Amendment Center.

“I am very excited to have Ken on campus,” Frantz said. “I think he is truly one of the great minds out there on First amendment law, one of the great advocates in our nation. We need his voice.”

Frantz noted that all students at the commencement, no matter their field of study, should be engaged by Paulson’s message.

“We are all American citizens first. We are biology and business and sociology and digital media majors second. This is essential for us as American citizens,” she said. “We’re very fortunate to have him coming to campus to have him address stuff that touches us all.”

Prior to his position at the First Amendment Center, Paulson had a notable career in journalism that included many important leadership positions. He’s been the editor or managing editor at several newspapers and was on the team of journalists who founded USA Today in 1982. He has also
served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today, and currently retains a position as a columnist on USA Today’s board of contributors, writing about First Amendment issues and the news media.

Paulson is also the founder of 1 for All, an unprecedented national campaign on behalf of the First Amendment, launched on July 1, 2010, with support from more than 1,100 news, arts and religious organizations.

He also is past-president of the American Society of News Editors, the nation’s largest organization of news-media leaders.

Paulson was the host of the Emmy-honored television program “Speaking Freely,” seen in more than 60 PBS markets nationwide over five seasons, and the author of “Freedom Sings,” a multimedia stage show celebrating the First Amendment that continues to tour the nation’s campuses.

Paulson has been a regular guest lecturer at the American Press Institute (API), speaking to more than 5,000 journalists about First Amendment issues over a 12-year span. He was honored with the API Lifetime Service Award. In 2010 and 2011, he served as chair of the PBS Editorial Standards Review Committee.

In 2007, Paulson was named a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), “the highest honor SPJ bestows upon a journalist for extraordinary contributions to the profession.” In October 2012, he received the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

BVU’s 2013 Commencement will take place at 2:30 PM on May 25 in Siebens Fieldhouse.