Rocky Mount, N.C.—Two prominent guests will address graduating seniors during North Carolina Wesleyan College’s commencement weekend activities—U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) and Martin Luther King III. The public may watch streaming video of the May 1 graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. on Wesleyan’s website at www.ncwc.edu.

Senator Hagan will deliver the keynote address at commencement on Saturday, when Wesleyan will award bachelor’s degrees to 181 seniors in Minges Auditorium of the Dunn Center for the Performing Arts.

Martin Luther King III also will speak at commencement. In addition, he will speak at Wesleyan’s baccalaureate service on Friday evening, April 30, and will address graduating seniors at a dinner sponsored by Wesleyan’s Alumni Association that will follow in the Garner Lobby of the Dunn Center.

The graduating seniors represent nine states and the District of Columbia. Thirty eight percent of all the graduating seniors have earned various academic honors. The President’s Cup and the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award will be presented during commencement to two outstanding seniors, and the recipient of the Exemplary Teacher Award also will be announced.

About Senator Hagan

Senator Kay Hagan is a native of Shelby, N.C. She graduated from Florida State University and Wake Forest Law School and worked at North Carolina National Bank, a predecessor of Bank of America, for 10 years, becoming a vice president in the estates and trust division. She left the bank to devote more time to her three children and to become more actively involved in her community. She and her husband, Chip Hagan, have made their home in Greensboro for more then 30 years.

Senator Hagan began her public service career at an early age, when she helped her uncle, Lawton Chiles, former governor and U.S. Senator from Florida, paste bumper stickers on supporters’ cars. She and her husband have been active in Guilford County Democratic politics, and NC Governor Jim Hunt asked her to run his gubernatorial campaign in Guilford County in 1992 and 1996.

In 1998, she ran for the North Carolina State Senate and served in the Senate for

10 years. During that time, she co-chaired the state Budget Committee and took a particular interest in issues related to education.

Senator Hagan was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008. She currently serves as a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. She also is a member of the Armed Forces Committee and the Small Business Committee.

About Martin Luther King III

Martin Luther King III, born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1957, is the eldest son of Nobel Laureate the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. He grew up in Atlanta and majored in political science and history at Morehouse College.

Throughout his career he has followed in the footsteps of his father, working to bring together people of all races. He founded Americans United for Affirmative Action in 1996. From 1998 until 2004, he was president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the historic civil rights organization founded by his father. Since 2004, he has been president and CEO of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

King is founder and CEO of Realizing the Dream, a non-profit organization founded in 2006 to carry on the legacy of his parents. The Atlanta-based organization is dedicated to pursuing peace, justice, equality and an end to racism and poverty through nonviolence. Realizing the Dream operates on both the domestic and international level.            

Admission to commencement activities is reserved for members of the graduating class and invited guests. In past years, the 1,200-seat Minges Auditorium in the Dunn Center has been filled to capacity with graduates and their families and friends, as well as Wesleyan trustees, faculty and staff.

Wesleyan holds commencement twice a year, in December and May.