HPU Hosts Separate Graduate Commencement Ceremony for First Time in 100-Year History
HIGH POINT, N.C., May 3, 2024 – High Point University held its first-ever Commencement Ceremony for graduate students on Thursday, May 2, in the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center. The milestone reflects the tremendous growth in master’s and doctoral degree programs that HPU has achieved in recent years in a variety of fields, such as physician assistant studies, physical therapy, pharmacy and many others.
Nearly 400 graduate students were recognized at the Graduate Commencement Ceremony. The ceremony was held during a year when HPU welcomed its largest total enrollment of 6,040 students and is preparing to celebrate its Centennial Anniversary in the fall. The university will also welcome its first cohorts of graduate students to the Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law and the Workman School of Dental Medicine.
More than 1,400 degrees will be conferred during HPU’s spring graduate and undergraduate ceremonies. The undergraduate Commencement Ceremony will start at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 4. A total of 1,537 degrees will be conferred throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, including across all HPU graduate programs on varying schedules and December Commencement.
“Welcome on this centennial year at High Point University, the 100th year of this institution,” HPU President Nido Qubein said. “Let me be sure you understand. These are the graduate school graduates and not all of them because some schools have already held their own graduation like doctors of physical therapy and others. We’re proud of you and your accomplishments.”
HPU’s physical therapy doctoral degree program is ranked No. 74 nationally in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Graduate Schools rankings, which were released in April. Its physician assistant master’s degree program is ranked No. 65 among the nation’s Best Physician Assistant Programs.
Dr. Vincent Price, the president of Duke University, congratulated master’s and doctoral graduates and their families as the commencement speaker for HPU’s Graduate Commencement Ceremony.
“As you leave High Point University today with your advanced degree or professional training, you’re no doubt ready to make a positive difference in the world,” said Price. “You will walk out into a world of incredible change, a world in flux. My message to you today is this: Yes, you are entering a world of rapid and chaotic change. It may be turbulent and disorienting, but it need not be feared. Change can be powerfully positive rather than negative should you choose to understand it and influence it. You with your advanced education and professional acumen will lead the way to a better place.”
Reflecting on past and future
Price noted both HPU and Duke are celebrating centennials in 2024. Both universities overcame seismic changes, such as the Great Depression, wars, the Baby Boom and civil rights movement along with economic challenges. At the same time, their host cities of High Point and Durham adjusted to changes in their core industries of furniture and tobacco.
Price encouraged graduates to take the lessons of history to heart and know they are well-equipped to face challenges and make adjustments to serve as leaders. He advised them of the following four H’s for guidance in their careers:
- Humanity – recognizing individual diversity and extending grace
- Humility – accepting all people know less than they admit
- Honesty – turning toward facts rather than away when they prove inconvenient
- Hope – believing in the ability to change and improve circumstances to make the world better in the same way as the founders of HPU and Duke
Qubein presented an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Price, who is also the Walter Hines Page Professor of Public Policy and Political Science in Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy and Trinity College of Arts and Sciences.
A Doctor of Business Administration also was presented to John Charman, the retired CEO of Sompo Holdings who directed the integration of the overseas insurance business into a global enterprise. Charman and his wife Lorraine made a $30 million transformational gift to help fund HPU’s new $80 million library, which is expected to be completed in 2025-2026.
HPU honored and celebrated the accomplishments of graduates with several unique traditions, including:
- Clark the bald eagle soared over the graduates at the end of the ceremony to symbolize the ideals of free enterprise, independence and the ability to pursue new opportunities in America.
- HPU graduates received a blanket after Commencement to give to their mothers or mother figures in honor of Mother’s Day, which is May 12.
