President M. Russell Ballard to speak at BYU-Idaho fall commencement

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) – President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, will address 2,688 graduates at Brigham Young University-Idaho’s 2019 Fall Semester Commencement on Dec. 18, 2019.

The university will award 2,101 bachelor’s degrees and 623 associate degrees. Of the graduates, 1,646 are women and 1,042 are men. Campus-based students make up 1,927 of this semester’s graduates, while 761 of the graduates are online students, and 590 of those graduating started their college career as PathwayConnect students.

President Ballard has served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since October 6, 1985. He was set apart as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by President Russell M. Nelson on January 14, 2018.

President Ballard served a mission to England as a young man and was later called as president of the Canada Toronto Mission in 1974. He studied at the University of Utah and had interests in the automotive, real estate, and investment businesses prior to his call as a full-time Church leader. He married Barbara Bowen on August 28, 1951, and they are the parents of two sons and five daughters.

The event will be held at 5:45 p.m. in the BYU-Idaho Center.