05/10/2026
Nearly 200 graduates walked across the stage of Moore Auditorium on Saturday, May 9, 2026, to receive their Mars Hill University bachelor’s or master’s degrees. The university also awarded an honorary doctorate to retired businessman and longtime university trustee, Wayne Higgins of Weaverville, North Carolina. Saturday’s commencement ceremony was the last graduation presided over by President Tony Floyd, who is retiring this month.
Student speakers were Laela Jimenez, a nursing major from Naples, Florida, who represented the traditional student population; and Jakub Pawelczak, a social work major from Knightdale, North Carolina, who represented the Adult & Graduates Studies graduates. Other students with special roles in the program were Jordan Speece, a music performance major from Lewisville, North Carolina, who sang “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from “The Sound of Music,” and Matthew Pacheco, a community and nonprofit leadership major from Windermere, Florida, who delivered the invocation. Paul Powell, a 1979 Mars Hill alumnus and current chair of the board of trustees, spoke to the graduates on behalf of the trustees.
Read more: https://www.mhu.edu/news/mars-hill-university-confers-bachelors-and-masters-degrees-and-awards-honorary-doctorate/
