Buies Creek, N.C. — Campbell University conferred 547 degrees at three graduation ceremonies held Friday, Dec. 14, and Saturday, Dec. 15, in Turner Auditorium on the Campbell campus.Dr. Roy De Brand, professor of Homiletics at the Campbell Divinity School delivered the commencement address to 94 graduate and first professional degree recipients from Campbell’s five professional Schools–business, law, pharmacy, divinity and education–Friday at 6 p.m..”We need you to step up to the plate and hit a home run in whatever you do,” De Brand said. “At their very root, all of the professions represented here tonight share two basic elements–people and principles. Lose either of these and we have problems. Effective business, education, law, pharmacy, and yes, religion all involve both a realistic understanding of people and the rational application of principles. Together these twin peaks form the pinnacle of the one thing we now need in our nation and world more than anything else–leadership!”Dr. Jesse Croom, president of the Council on Christian Higher Education for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, had a similar message for the 453 undergraduate degree recipients leaving the university to enter an uncertain world. Croom spoke at two separate exercises at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.”You have inherited a most unpredictable and complicated time,” he said. “It is a world that is struggling to right itself; a world in which insecurity is the global norm; and a world in which our environment is at grave risk. You know what is expected and where you stand, but once you leave this environment, you will have to depend on your inner compass to guide you in a world undergoing ceaseless change.”Croom also received the James Archibald Campbell Meritorious Service Award, established by the Board of Trustees to honor individuals whose contributions to Campbell University have advanced the institution in fulfilling its mission of Christ-centered Christian higher education. Croom currently serves on the Board of Ministers at both Chowan and Campbell universities.
Campbell confers 547 degrees at winter graduation