RALEIGH, N.C. (May 8, 2010) - Peace College conferred degrees to 114 women Saturday in the college's 138th commencement ceremony, the last for President Laura Bingham who is stepping down as the college's president in June.

Commencement speaker former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Willis Whichard urged the graduates to not wait to begin work to make a difference in the world.

"An imperfect world is growing impatient, indeed rather desperate, as it eagerly waits for the contributions you will make as result of the education you have acquired in this place and that we celebrate today," Whichard said. Click here to view a PDF of Whichard's address.

Whichard, who is the only person in North Carolina history to have served in both houses of the General Assembly and on the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, told graduates that he hoped they would accept some responsibility for the public life of the times.

"In view of our recent political history, it would not be surprising if many of you are totally disillusioned with politics, politicians and the political system," he said. "But it would be nevertheless tragic, for in your time, just as in the days of Washington or Jefferson or Lincoln, human experience and human aspirations are the materials of politics, and reasoned argument and honorable compromise are the civilize ways of conducting politics.

"It is the task of leadership in a democratic society to help people think beyond immediate appetites to enduring interests; to persuade people to sacrifice their short-run, individual gratifications in order to achieve long-run, community interests; to accept a certain amount of pain in the short-run in order to minimize the discomfort of the long run," he said. "But it is the task of the whole of our citizenry to be responsive to that kind of leadership."

One hundred and three graduates participated in Saturday's commencement exercises. Eleven received their degrees in absentia.

The ceremony included recognitions of Bingham, who announced earlier this year that she would step down in June after serving as president of the college for 12 years.

Bingham told graduates that after making their mark at Peace, it was time for them to make change in the world.

"Now it's your turn to move beyond college and onto your world's stage - the one you create," she said. "It's time to make your mark, give your gifts, write your stories, and shape your universe. And I have every confidence you will do that."

During the ceremony, Bingham's husband, Warren, was given the Volunteer of the Decade Award for his work for the college.

Other awards announced Saturday:

• Carolann Wade, an education faculty member, was given the McCormick Distinguished Teaching Award.

• Kimberly Zullo of Greenville, N.C., a biology major who on Saturday graduated with one of the college's first four bachelor of science degrees, received the Katherine Bryan Sloan Graham Academic Achievement Award and the Outstanding Graduate Award.

• Maria Lopez of Raleigh, who graduated with a triple major in Spanish, English and anthropology, received the Miss Peace award.

Randal McLean of Lumberton, N.C., who graduated with a B.S. degree in biology, was the student speaker.

Peace College is a four-year baccalaureate arts and sciences college that offers a challenging program of study that provides women strong intellectual and personal foundations upon which to build successful and meaningful professional and academic careers. Peace students consistently have rated the school highly in the National Survey of Student Engagement. In NSSE's most recent survey, seniors' ratings placed Peace College in the top 10 percent of schools nationwide in all of the five categories contained in the survey.

Peace was chartered in 1857 and opened its doors in 1872. Main Building, the backdrop for Peace's commencement, served as a Confederate hospital during the Civil War, then as the Freedman's Bureau headquarters for the state after the war. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.