Baccalaureate Facts

•  The ceremony is a service in celebration of and thanksgiving for lives dedicated to learning and wisdom.

•  The baccalaureate service derives from the medieval European custom of presenting the candidates for the degree of Bachelor (bacca) with laurels (lauri) of sermonic oration. 

•  The baccalaureate service is believed to have originated at the University of Oxford in 1432 when each bachelor was required to deliver a sermon in Latin as part of his academic requirements. Since the earliest universities in America were founded primarily to educate ministers, the British practice of the baccalaureate service was continued.