For more information on past Wake Forest commencement ceremonies, including speakers, programs, and diploma ceremony videos, please visit the Commencement News Archive website.


2022

Commencement Ceremony

May 16, 2022

Keynote Speaker:

  • Van Jones, CNN host and Dream Corps founder

Baccalaureate Ceremony

May 15, 2022

Keynote Speaker:

  • Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University

2021

Commencement Ceremony

May 16, 2021

Keynote Speakers:

  • Condoleezza Rice, Former Secretary of State (recorded)
  • Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation (recorded)
  • Kendall Hinton, NFL Wide Receiver (recorded)

Baccalaureate

May 15, 2021

Speaker:

  • Bishop Michael Curry

2020

Commencement Ceremony

September 18, 2021

Keynote Speaker:

  • Nathan O. Hatch, Wake Forest Univeristy President Emeritus

2019

Commencement Ceremony

May 20, 2019

Keynote Speaker:

  • Frederick J. Ryan Jr, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of The Washington Post

Baccalaureate

May 19, 2019

Speaker:

  • Gary A. Haugen, CEO and Founder of International Justice Mission (IJM)

2018

Commencement Ceremony

May 21, 2018

Keynote Speaker:

  • Carla Harris, Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley

Baccalaureate

May 20, 2018

Speaker:

  • His Eminence Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York

2017

Commencement Ceremony

May 15, 2017

Keynote Speaker:

  • Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author and Presidential Historian

Baccalaureate

May 14, 2017

Speaker:

  • The Reverend Kathy Killian Noe, Founding Director, Recovery CafĂ©

2016

Commencement Ceremony

May 16, 2016

Keynote Speaker:

  • Eboo Patel, Author, Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core