Rocky Mount, N.C. - North Carolina Wesleyan College will hold May commencement exercises on Saturday, May 12, at 10:30 a.m., on the lawn in front of the Braswell Administration Building. A total of 236 students are eligible to participate. Of these, 93 are traditional students, and 143 are adult students from the College’s four Adult Degree Program sites in Rocky Mount, Raleigh, Durham and Goldsboro. This number is in addition to the 150 students the College graduated last December.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper will deliver the commencement address. A Nash County native, Cooper has served as a state legislator and Senate Majority Leader, and as a lawyer, civic leader, community volunteer and member of N.C. Wesleyan’s Board of Visitors.

Student speakers are senior class president Kenneth Childs, a computer information systems major from Northampton, MA, and Gustavo Rodriguez, a business administration major from Raleigh’s adult degree program.

The faculty marshal will be history professor Richard L. Watson III.

Benny St. Romain, vice president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, will induct the graduates into the Alumni Association.

Commencement exercises are preceded by a baccalaureate service Friday evening, May 11. The Reverend Dr. Gayle C. Felton, a member of Wesleyan’s first graduating class in 1964 and a trustee of the College, will be the speaker for the service at 7:30 p.m. in the Leon Russell Chapel.

In case of rain, the ceremony will be held in the Dunn Center. The decision on where to hold commencement will be made by noon on Friday, May 11. If the ceremony is held inside, seating will be limited.

North Carolina Wesleyan is an independent, four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The College offers bachelor’s degrees in 22 majors to traditional-aged students on the Rocky Mount campus. NC Wesleyan also offers an Adult Degree Program geared to help working adults finish their bachelor’s degrees in several disciplines, with classes in Rocky Mount and in teaching sites in Raleigh, Durham and Goldsboro.