Commencement 2023

Regalia includes your cap, gown, tassel, and hood. Please order your regalia online by Feb. 24. These are included in your tuition. The Registrar’s Office will send out notifications when those items are ready for pickup.

Optionally, you may buy class rings, announcements, frames, and more; those items are not included.

Order Deadline: Feb. 24

If you have questions, please contact the Office of the Registrar at registrar@peace.edu.

• Please note that graduates should wear shoes appropriate for walking in the grass and on the brick walkway.
• Graduates wear a cap and gown for both ceremonies. The tassel is worn on the right side of the mortarboard until the student is awarded a degree.
• Mortarboards may be decorated in a 2-dimensional fashion only.
• Graduates who are members of disciplinary honor societies should wear the pins or cords they receive as part of their induction into the honor society.
• Latin Honors recipients will wear gold cords to indicate graduating with Latin Honors.

The Office of the Registrar orders diplomas so that Latin Honors are properly reflected on the diploma. Diplomas are mailed to your preferred address after all of your degree requirements are met (conferral) and balances are paid.  If you have not received your diploma by August 1 please contact the Office of the Registrar at registrar@peace.edu. The diploma includes the graduate’s full name, degree as well as academic distinctions (cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude) as applicable.

Diplomas are 8.8 x 11” and are printed on high-quality paper.

Caps, gowns, tassels, and hoods will be ready for pickup at the Office of the Registrar in April. You will be notified once they arrive.

Questions? Contact the Office of the Registrar at registrar@peace.edu.

If you lose the regalia that you are provided, you will be responsible for ordering a replacement from Herff-Jones by contacting the WPU bookstore at 1267@follett.com

Mortarboards (your cap) may be decorated in a 2-dimensional fashion only.

Students who are eligible to graduate with Latin Honors at the end of the Fall semester prior to graduation will be able to wear Honor Cords at Commencement. Honor Cords will be given to eligible graduates along with their regalia.

Latin Honors will be conferred on graduating seniors whose cumulative GPA meets the following criteria:

• 3.9-4.0 Summa Cum Laude
• 3.7-3.89 Magna Cum Laude
• 3.5-3.69 Cum Laude

Students must earn a minimum of 45 semester hours at William Peace University to be eligible for Latin Honors. In order to be recognized as Valedictorian, a student must have earned at least 90 credits at William Peace University.

Have you asked someone to “Hood” you during Baccalaureate Service?

Read our “What is Baccalaurate?” blog post

One of the unique traditions at WPU is a Hooding Ceremony that happens during our Baccalaureate Service on Friday, May 5 at 3:30 in Holy Trinity Church (across the street from campus). 

Each graduating student will be “hooded” by a person selected by the graduate as part of the service. At WPU, we call that special person your “Hooder.”  The graduate and “Hooder” will walk in together and sit with each other. This person will literally put your hood on you during the ceremony and symbolically prepare you for commencement on Saturday. Your “Hooder” should be meaningful to you and supportive of you during your educational journey at WPU. You may select a family member, friend, significant other, or staff member.  All Faculty members are part of the ceremony and, therefore, will NOT be individual “hooders” for students. Each student can ask only one person to hood them.  

2023: The Baccalaureate Service is traditionally a religious service held before commencement; the service is open to ALL students regardless of religious background or interest. In 2023, the Service will be adjusted, with the Hooding Ceremony near the start. After the Hooding, there will be a short recess for those who wish to leave before the rest of the service continues. Attendance at the Baccalaureate Service is optional but strongly encouraged. 

You must RSVP for the Baccalaureate. You will receive an email with further details.

If you have any questions about selecting your “Hooder” or the Baccalaureate Service, please contact Dawn Dillon at ddillon[at]peace.edu.

RSVP for Baccalaureate

Graduates should arrive around 3 p.m. The ceremony starts promptly at 3:30 p.m. Families can be seated after 2:45 p.m.

• Arrive with your selected Hooder at Holy Trinity Church (directly across the street from WPU) between 3:00 – 3:10 pm. 
• Your selected hooder will sit with you during the service while the rest of your guests will sit in the general seating area.
• The service begins promptly at 3:30 pm and will last approximately an hour
• A light reception will follow.
• Wear your regalia (your gown and stole).  The person hooding you will carry your hood, cap, and tassel. Graduates and hooders enter the church through the left-side courtyard door (as you face the church from WPU) and families and guests should use the entrance off Peace Street.  This service is strongly encouraged but not required.

• Please arrive in the Main Parking lot line up by 8:30 am.  
• Be dressed in your full regalia.  PLEASE, keep in mind you will be walking in grass and over bricks, likely that will be wet from rain on Sunday, so I advise keeping the high heels to a minimum – it will be hard to walk in muddy grass.
• You will line up in the Main Parking lot but you will get to sit with your friends!  You will not be lined up alphabetically as we have done in the past.  So if you know in advance you want to sit with your teammates or your friends from bio class, keep that in mind.  And if you don’t know who you want to sit with, it’s an opportunity to make a new friend.
• The Main Lawn opens for guests at 7:00 am and the ceremony begins at 9:30 am.  No tickets are needed but seating is on a first-come-first-served basis.  In an effort to be equitable, reserved seats are not permitted.
• The ceremony is expected to last approximately 75-90 minutes.

Ceremonies will go on as planned, rain or shine. We will provide clear ponchos for students if it rains.  If a thunderstorm with lightning is expected we will delay until the storm has passed. Please note that umbrellas are not allowed during the ceremony. Main Lawn will likely be wet Saturday morning; please select your footwear accordingly.

Printed programs will be available around Main Lawn before and during the ceremony. An electronic version will also be available.

Contact information for preferred hotels can be found using the link below.

Explore Downtown Raleigh Hotels

William Peace University community members receive discounted rates at the following hotels:

The Longleaf Hotel – Downtown Raleigh
Address: 300 N. Dawson St. Raleigh NC 27603
Phone: (919) 867-5770
Receive a 15% discount when you mention WPU at booking.

Hampton Inn and Suites – Downtown Raleigh
Closest to WPU (only two blocks!)
Address: 600 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27603
Phone: (919) 825-4770

DoubleTree by Hilton – Raleigh Midtown
Address: 2805 Highwoods Blvd, Raleigh, NC 27604
Phone: (919) 872-3500

Homewood Suites by Hilton – Raleigh Crabtree Valley
Address: 5400 Homewood Banks Dr, Raleigh, NC 27612
Phone: (919) 785-1131

To access these discounts, use this link. Enter Corporate Account number 2831252 using the “Special Rates” button in the top right corner. From there, enter “Raleigh, NC” as the location and select your dates of travel/number of guests. You’ll arrive on a page listing local hotels with discounted rates signified by “William Peace University” below the hotel title.

Location and Direction Information for WPU

Students and guests may park on Delway, the gravel lot, street parking, and in public parking decks on North Salisbury Street. (Parking Deck #64 and #66).  Students and guests MAY NOT park at Seaboard Station or in the Main Parking lot. (Main Lot is reserved for those with disabilities.)

You may also take advantage of street parking alongside campus.

Explore the Campus Map

Special Needs parking spaces will be available in the 15 East Peace Street, Main parking lot. Please contact the Office of Disability Services for these special requests: MAJohn@peace.edu.

A professional from Photo Specialties will photograph each graduate as he/she/they cross the stage during commencement. Photo Specialties will send free color proofs and ordering instructions to each graduate’s email and permanent mailing address. If graduates do not receive this link or need additional information about ordering photos, they should contact Photo Specialties at info@photospecialties.com or 919.967.9576.

Contact Photo Specialties

• Remind your student to purchase regalia ASAP.
• Remind your graduate to verify progress toward graduation requirements via the Self-Service Progress tab.
• Make hotel reservations.
• Read through all Commencement information on our website.
• Ceremonies will be held rain or shine. Graduation exercises will be held outside on Main Lawn, and temperatures can vary; please plan accordingly.
• Questions? Contact the Registrar’s Office.
  919-508-2012
  Registrar@peace.edu

Family members and other guests are encouraged to dress comfortably for the weekend, taking the weather conditions into account. Most guests dress in business attire for the Baccalaureate service and the Commencement exercises, but there is typically a wide range of attire for those ceremonies.

The 2023 Commencement is open. You do not need tickets to attend.

Graduates should arrive at Holy Trinity Church at 3 p.m. The ceremony starts promptly at 3:30 p.m. Families can be seated after 2:45 p.m.

The Main Lawn opens for guests at 7 a.m. and the ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m. No tickets are needed but seating is on a first-come-first-served basis. In an effort to be equitable, reserved seats are not permitted.