LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2009) – Bellarmine University will award 232 degrees during its annual December commencement exercises today. The graduate(s) with the highest cumulative grade point average will receive the Archbishop’s Medal of Scholastic Excellence. Ceremonies begin at 5 p.m. in Knights Hall, with a commencement address from Bob Edwards, a native of Louisville and host of “The Bob Edwards Show” on Sirius XM Radio and “Bob Edwards Weekend,” distributed to public radio stations by Public Radio International (PRI).

The university will award honorary degrees of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, to Edwards and to John M. Cranor III.

Cranor, chairman and director of AFC Enterprises Inc. of Atlanta, was instrumental in helping Bellarmine establish a downtown presence as the director of the university’s Center for eBusiness, now known as CITÉ. Cranor served on Bellarmine’s Board of Trustees from 1991-2002. In addition, he served on the Board of Directors for the Louisville Community Foundation, which oversees charitable endowments that benefit non-profit organizations, in 2003. More recently, he served as chairman of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.

Edwards serves as national first vice president of AFTRA, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. And he is the author of two books: “Fridays with Red,” which chronicled his radio friendship with legendary sportscaster Red Barber, and “Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism.” Before joining Sirius XM in 2004, Edwards hosted National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” for nearly 25 years.

Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university offering more than 50 majors, as well as graduate degree programs, a doctor of nursing practice and a doctor of physical therapy. Forbes.com and the Princeton Review rank Bellarmine among America’s best institutions for higher education, and U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Bellarmine as a top tier university.

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