Commencement trivia 2009
| Estimated number of graduates, 2009* *Includes May graduates only; Does not include Dec. and Aug. 2008 graduates. |
|
| 941 | Undergraduates |
| 150 | Graduate School (both campuses) |
| 159 | School of Law |
| 108 | Babcock Graduate School of Management |
| 22 | Divinity School |
| 152 | School of Medicine (including Physician Assistant Studies) |
| 4 | Number of graduates in first graduating class, 1839 |
| 1 | Number of graduates in 1843 |
| 1964 | First black graduate, Edward Reynolds |
| 20 | Number of graduates in the Divinity School’s first graduating class, 2002 |
| Honorary degrees | |
| 8 | Number of honorary degrees awarded this year |
| 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 |
| 12,000 | Number of chairs set up on Hearn Plaza |
| 50’x100′ | Size of striped tent |
| 1989 | Year a rain and wind-storm knocked down the tent the night before Commencement; the program proceeded on schedule, without a tent |
| 3 | Number of times rain has forced Commencement inside (1991, 1983, 1973) |
| 1 | Number of times Commencement has been held off campus (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) |
| 2.5 hours | Approximate length of Commencement |
| 2 hours | Length of Commencement speech delivered in 1858 by Solomon Satchwell |
| 10,000 | Number of programs printed |
| 39 | Consecutive years Sun Printing Company of Winston-Salem has printed the Commencement program |
| 8,500 | Number of bottles of water distributed in 1993, when temperatures soared to the high 90s during the ceremony |
| 52 | 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 |
| 2 | Number of black women who have spoken at Commencement (Barbara Jordan, 1975, and Maya Angelou, 1985) |
| 2 | Number of times Bill Moyers has given the Commencement address (1970 and 1984) |
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