Judd W. Patton is Professor of Economics at Bellevue University located in Bellevue, Nebraska. He has been Chair of the Economics area for twenty-four years. Besides teaching each economics course at Bellevue University his is also the Founder and Director of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Center.

Dr. Patton’s educational background includes a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Grove City College and Master’s degrees in Economics from Youngstown State University and St. Andrews University in Scotland. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics under Dr. Hans Sennholz at International College in 1982.

Dr. Patton’s teaching career has spanned 33 years at three colleges: Hillsdale College (1973-1980), Washington and Jefferson College (1980-1982), and Bellevue University since 1982. In 1980 Dr. Patton was named “Teacher of the Year” at Hillsdale College by the senior class. He was named to the John Templeton Foundation Honor Roll for Free Enterprise Teaching in 1990 and he received the ConAgra Distinguished Professor Award for 1990-1991 at Bellevue University.

Dr. Patton is the author of two books: Missing Dimensions in Economics (1989) and Jefferson’s “Bible:” The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (1996). In 1997 Dr. Patton re-established the tradition with the 105th Congress, started by Congress itself in 1905, of giving all new Senators and Representatives a copy of Jefferson’s “Bible.” Thomas Jefferson called his work “a wee little book” to highlight the moral laws and principles upon which our Nation was founded. These precepts were captured by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence in the phrase, “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”

Dr. Patton has published over fifty articles in Bellevue University’s Bottom Line Newsletter, and is working on his third book, The Maker’s Economics. He is also a regular commentator on a number of radio programs in Omaha, Nebraska discussing economic issues of the day.

Dr. Patton and his wife Jeanne are the parents of Janell (Bellevue University class of ’96), Jared (Omaha paramedic and firefighter), and Jonathan (entrepreneur and President of
JM Web Designs).

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