Baccalaureate Service | Friday, May 12, 2023 | 6:30 PM | Pierce Chapel
Commencement Ceremony | Saturday, May 13, 2023 | 10:00 AM | Porter Auditorium
Commencement Speaker | D.A. Anita Howard
Anita Howard is District Attorney for the Macon Judicial Court. A Middle Georgia native, Howard is the first African American and woman elected to her position, having won more than seventy percent of the votes in the 2020 election. She is a career prosecutor with eighteen years of experience in Superior, Juvenile, Accountability, Probate, and Appellate Courts and has argued before the Georgia Supreme Court. Since taking office, Howard has intentionally engaged in the community by launching several initiatives and partnerships, including her Campaign Against Co-sleeping to aid in preventing infant deaths, partnerships with Compass Cares for Know Your Status Day, and Black Voters Matter for the first-ever warrant clinic in Georgia. Read More >
This is an important Wesleyan tradition that is held on the eve of Commencement. It is an occasion of celebration, prayer, and song.
Graduating seniors and faculty gather at 6:15 pm at the site of the historical marker on the right side of the Candler Alumnae Center at Wesleyan for a brief ceremony which starts at 6:30 pm they will then process to Pierce Chapel for the second portion of the celebration.
Additional Information
If you do not have a ticket, please go directly to Pierce Chapel for seating, and park in Parking Lot B.
Non-ticket holders will view the ceremony on the large screen in Pierce Chapel and will not be allowed in Porter Auditorium at any time. You can meet your graduate at Lemonade on the Lawn after the ceremony. Some golf carts may be available for transportation.
Wesleyan College has a long history of cordially welcoming visitors to our campus. We strive to provide first-rate protection in order to ensure the safety of the entire campus community.
Benson Charge: “Members of the graduating class, demands will be made upon you which were not made upon us. Your training, if you are true to it, will amply qualify you to meet those demands. No wiser blessing could I wish for you than that you may be true to every God-appointed work.” Catherine Brewer Benson, Wesleyan College’s first graduate, Class of 1840.
4760 Forsyth Rd, Macon, Ga 31210 / Google Map Directions
Go south on I-75, through Forsyth. Past Forsyth, at the Visitor's Center, bear right onto I-475 South. The second exit is #9, Zebulon Road. (There are signs indicating that this is the Wesleyan College exit.) Exit and turn left onto Zebulon Road. You will go several miles and through three traffic lights at Zebulon Road, which turns residential once you have gone past the immediate area of the interstate. Zebulon Road ends at Forsyth Road. Turn right and, within a mile, the college will be on the right.
Coming in on US 80 or Ga. Hwy. 22, get on I-475 North and go to Exit #9, Zebulon Road. (There are signs indicating that this is the Wesleyan College exit.) Exit and turn right onto Zebulon Road. You will go several miles and through three traffic lights at Zebulon Road, which turns residential once you have gone past the immediate area of the interstate. Zebulon Road ends at Forsyth Road. Turn right and, within a mile, the college will be on the right.
Go north on I-75. Before you get into Macon, bear left onto I-475, the Macon Bypass. Go to Exit #9, Zebulon Road. (There are signs indicating that this is the Wesleyan College exit.) Exit and turn right onto Zebulon Road. You will go several miles and through three traffic lights at Zebulon Road, which turns residential once you have gone past the immediate area of the interstate. Zebulon Road ends at Forsyth Road. Turn right and, within a mile, the college will be on the right.
Take I-16 West until it ends at I-75. Stay to the right and merge onto I-75 North. On I-75, you will have a sense that you are skirting the city, which is to your left. Go to the second exit, Exit #169, Arkwright Road. Exit, turn left, and go straight at the light across Riverside Drive. At the next light, turn right onto Northside Drive. Go straight through the light at Forest Hill Road. (The change from business to residential is rather abrupt once you have crossed Forest Hill Road.) At the caution light, turn left onto Wesleyan Drive. When Wesleyan Drive intersects Rivoli Drive, it jogs left and then immediately right, crosses the railroad tracks, and ends at Forsyth Road, at the campus. Turn left onto Forsyth Road and right into the campus. (From Milledgeville or Gray, you will turn right onto I-16/I-75 North from Gray Highway as you are coming into Macon.)
Take I-16 West until it ends at I-75. Stay to the left and merge onto I-75 South. Cross the Ocmulgee River Bridge and get into the right-hand lane to exit at Hardeman Avenue. Exit, turn right, and continue on Hardeman Avenue (Georgia Highway 41) as it changes name to Vineville Avenue and then to Forsyth Road. Several miles off the Interstate you will cross under a railroad overpass at Rivoli. Look for the campus in about one mile on the left.
Parking and Drop Off: Guests will have the option of dropping-off passengers with limited mobility in front of Porter Auditorium until 9:30am as directed by campus security and event staff. After 9:30am, no drop off will be available. Guests without need for drop off should enter campus using Entrance 5 off Tucker Road and go directly to Parking Lot B or other lots as available.
Wesleyan College’s tradition of the Marker Ceremony began in 1986 during the celebration of the College’s sesquicentennial anniversary. On the evening before Commencement, graduating seniors and faculty would process in regalia from the Old Wesleyan campus site on College Street to Mulberry Street United Methodist Church for Baccalaureate Ceremonies. In 2020, the honored tradition was relocated and now takes place on Wesleyan’s campus where students live, study, and worship every day. The procession begins at the site of the historical marker on the right side of the Candler Alumnae Center and follows the route to Pierce Chapel where Baccalaureate services are held. The Marker Ceremony begins at 6:30 PM, Friday evening.
Baccalaureate is an occasion of prayer, song, and celebration held each year on the eve of Commencement. Originating at Oxford University, England, during the 15th century, Baccalaureate is a cherished part of Wesleyan’s Commencement exercises. For many years, Baccalaureate was held at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church. Today the service is held in Pierce Chapel on Wesleyan’s campus. The Baccalaureate service begins at 7:00 PM Friday evening, following the Marker Ceremony.
Family and friends of the graduating class are invited to both the Baccalaureate Service and Marker Ceremony. Graduates and faculty please wear regalia for both events. Hooders are not required at the Marker Ceremony or Baccalaureate.
Mulberry Street United Methodist Church first hosted Wesleyan's Commencement exercises in 1852 and we are deeply grateful for this historic relationship. Today the service is held in Porter Auditorium, the cherished location of so many Wesleyan and community events. Commencement begins at 10:00 AM, Saturday morning.
In 1840, Catherine Elizabeth Brewer Benson became the first woman to receive her degree from the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women.
Catherine Elizabeth Brewer Benson 1840 In the 1839 Georgia Female College catalog, twenty young women are listed in the Junior Class. Of this number, eleven graduated on the night of July 16, 1840, and were pioneers in education for women. By virtue of being alphabetically the first in line, Catherine Elizabeth Brewer was the first woman to receive her degree from the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women. READ MORE
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