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| Dr. David Medders | Carol Burdette |
Harold Reaves |
Southern Wesleyan plans December graduation
Commencement exercises will bring hundreds of graduates, their family members and friends to Southern Wesleyan University's campus in Central on Dec. 10 and 12.
The speaker for the Dec. 10 graduation ceremony will be Dr. David Medders, who served as president of Bethany Bible College in Sussex, New Brunswick, for 19 years. Dr. Medders is currently vice president for resource development for the Association of Biblical Higher Education in Orlando, Fla. Medders and his wife, Anne, are graduates of Southern Wesleyan University. He was awarded the honorary doctor of divinity degree in 1993 in recognition of his ministry and leadership in The Wesleyan Church and in Wesleyan higher education.
The Dec. 12 morning ceremony will feature the Honorable Carol Burdette, mayor of Pendleton, S.C., and Southern Wesleyan University graduate. She is a graduate of Pendleton High School and has served as mayor since 1987. She currently serves as president of the Municipal Association of South Carolina and is executive director of United Way of Anderson County. Burdette is immediate past governor of Rotary District 7750 and a member of Pendleton United Methodist Church.
The afternoon ceremony speaker will be Harold Reaves, director of Homeland Security in Columbia, S.C. He is a graduate of Lower Richland High School and earned a degree in business administration from Southern Wesleyan University. He has served the Columbia Police Department, where he earned the rank of captain and served as interim chief. He is a member of the university alumni board and serves the First Church of God in Sumter as a licensed pastor and part-time youth minister.
The Winter 2009 Graduation Exercises of Southern Wesleyan University will be held in Newton Hobson Chapel and Fine Arts Center on the Southern Wesleyan University campus in Central, S.C.
Students graduating from the university's traditional program will participate in the ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 10, at 3 p.m.
There will be two separate graduation ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 12, for students graduating from the university's Adult and Graduate Studies programs. The 10 a.m. ceremony on Dec. 12 is for students earning associate degrees, bachelor's degrees and master's degrees from the Central, Greenville, Greenwood and Spartanburg locations.
The 3 p.m. ceremony on Dec. 12 is for students earning associate degrees, bachelor's degrees and master's degrees from the Columbia, Charleston and North Augusta locations.
The university expects to confer more than 500 degrees, according to Registrar Rock McCaskill. For details, call Southern Wesleyan University's Academic Records Department at (864) 644-5530. Tickets, issued through the university, are required for those attending the ceremonies on Dec. 12. For guests without tickets, overflow seating is available, which will allow guests without tickets to view the ceremony via a closed circuit broadcast. Details are available at http://www.swu.edu/academics/academic_records/graduation.htm.
Other end-of-semester events at Southern Wesleyan University include Baccalaureate Chapel on Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. in Newton Hobson Chapel and Fine Arts Center. The baccalaureate sermon will be delivered by Rev. Steve Stanley, pastor of First Wesleyan Church in Greenville, S.C. Rev. Stanley serves as a member of the board of administration of the South Carolina District of The Wesleyan Church. He has earned a bachelor's degree in theology from International Seminary and is currently completing a master's degree in divinity from Nazarene Theological Seminary.
The university's Baccalaureate Chapel includes a "Ceremony of the Servants" and a challenge for graduates of the university to find ways to serve the needs of people throughout the world.
Southern Wesleyan University prepares students for leadership and graduate study in such fields as religion, education, music, business, medicine, law and a variety of civic and social service professions. Southern Wesleyan offers 41 degree programs in the areas of business, education and ministry. The university's main campus is in Central and there are regional learning centers across the state, in locations such as Greenville, Columbia, Charleston and North Augusta. Classes are also offered in Spartanburg and Greenwood.
Southern Wesleyan University