2014: By the Numbers
Estimated number of graduates: 1,880 total (May graduates only)
1,059 | Undergraduates |
149 | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences |
218 | School of Law |
261 | Schools of Business (graduate programs) |
169 | School of Medicine (including Physician Assistant Studies) |
24 | Divinity School |
4 | Number of graduates in first graduating class, 1839 |
1 | Number of graduates in 1843 |
1964 | First black graduate, Edward Reynolds |
2012 | First year that more than 1,000 undergraduates received a degree |
20 | Number of graduates in the Divinity School’s first graduating class, in 2002 |
Honorary degrees:
5 | Number of honorary degrees awarded |
11 | Number of honorary degrees awarded in 1934, the most ever |
1849 | Year first honorary degree was awarded, to Wake Forest founder and first president Samuel Wait |
Other information:
12,000 | Number of chairs set up on Hearn Plaza |
50′ x 100′ | Size of striped tent |
1989 | Year a rain and wind storm knocked down the tent the night before Graduation; the program proceeded on schedule, without a tent |
4 | Number of times rain has forced Commencement inside (2010, 1991, 1983, 1973) |
2 | Number of times Commencement has been held off campus (2010, 1991, Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum) |
1957 | First class to graduate on the “new” campus |
1966 | First year Commencement was held on the Quad (from 1957 to 1965 Commencement was held in Wait Chapel) |
3 hrs | Approximate length of Commencement ceremony |
2 hrs | Length of Commencement speech delivered in 1858 by Solomon Sampson Satchwell |
13,000 | Number of printed programs |
8,500 | Number of bottles of water distributed in 1993, when temperatures soared to the high 90s during the ceremony |
52°F | Temperature during the ceremony in 1999 (plus a cool, rainy mist) |
1987 | Last class to graduate under the elms before the last of the diseased elm trees were removed and replaced with ash trees. |
1981 | Last class to receive sheepskin diplomas |
$40 | Cost of an optional sheepskin diploma in 1982 |
1975 | First woman and first black, U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan (D-Texas), to speak at Commencement |
- 2014: Main story
- 2014: Speaker Jill Abramson
- 2014: President Hatch
- 2014: Commencement Photos
- 2014: Commencement Videos
- 2014: Honorary degrees
- 2014: Senior Profiles
- 2014: Meaningful Mentoring
- 2014: Baccalaureate Speaker Melissa Rogers
- 2014: Baccalaureate Photos
- 2014: Baccalaureate Video
- 2014: Baccalaureate Timelapse
- 2014: Retirees
- 2014: By the Numbers
- 2014: Programs