Spring 2025 Commencement Ceremonies
The Spring 2025 College of Arts and Sciences Commencement Ceremonies will be held on Friday, May 9, 2025, at 1 and 5 PM.
For details, visit appstate.edu/commencement.
Fall 2024 Commencement Ceremony
The Fall 2024 College of Arts and Sciences Commencement Ceremony was held on Friday, December 13, 2024, at 1 PM in the Holmes Convocation Center.
Commencement Macebearer
The Appalachian State University mace is carried by a senior faculty member in all academic processions. Traditionally, the macebearer precedes the chancellor of an institution, both upon entering and leaving a ceremony. The mace serves as a symbol of authority just as it did during the Middle Ages, when a macebearer accompanied an official taking office or opening court.
The App State mace symbolizes the university’s mountain heritage, the rustic location and the sophistication of an emerging, national leader in higher education. To learn more about the App State mace's design, visit appstate.edu/commencement.
About Dr. William Brewer
We are pleased to announce that Dr. William Brewer, professor in Appalachian State University's Department of English, will serve as the macebearer for the Fall 2024 College of Arts and Sciences Commencement Ceremony.
Dr. Brewer joined the Department of English in 1987 and served as director of App State’s English graduate program from 2005 to 2008. In 2003, he received the Donald W. Sink Outstanding Scholar Award, which honors a tenured faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences who has made outstanding scholarly contributions throughout their career.
Dr. Brewer is the author of four scholarly monographs, the latest of which, “Representing and Interrogating Dueling, Caning, and Fencing during the Romantic Period,” will be published by Liverpool University Press in 2025.
To read the full press release, see here.
Fall 2024 Hooding Ceremonies
Master’s candidates will wear their hoods to the commencement ceremony but will not be hooded during the event. Some departments hold special hooding ceremonies prior to commencement. For a list of hooding ceremonies, please check back soon.
- Department of Government & Justice Studies: Government & Justice Studies will hold a graduate hooding ceremony for the Master of Public Administration and Master of Political Science graduates on Friday, December 13, 2024, from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. in the Plemmons Student Union Solarium.
- Department of History: History will hold a graduate hooding ceremony on Thursday, December 12, 2024, from 2:15 - 3:45 p.m. in Belk Library & Information Commons Room 114.
- Department of Mathematical Sciences: Mathematical Sciences will hold a graduate hooding ceremony and reception on Friday, December 13, 2024, from 10 - 11:30 a.m. at the Broyhill Music Center. The ceremony will take place in the Schaffel Recital Hall and will be followed by a reception in the lobby outside of the Recital Hall.