U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner will deliver the commencement address during Old Dominion University's virtual graduation ceremony at 7 p.m. May 5. The ceremony will be available at www.odu.edu.
Warner was elected to the Senate in 2008 and reelected to a third term in 2020. He serves on the Senate Finance, Banking, Budget, and Rules Committees as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence, where he is the chairman.
From 2002 to 2006, he served as governor of Virginia. When he left office in 2006, Virginia was ranked as the best state for business, the best managed state and the best state in which to receive a public education.
The first in his family to graduate from college, Warner spent 20 years as a technology and business leader in Virginia before entering public office. An early investor in the cellular telephone business, he co-founded the company that became Nextel and invested in hundreds of start-up technology companies that created tens of thousands of jobs.
Other speakers at the virtual ceremony will include ODU President John R. Broderick, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Austin Agho, Vice President for Student Engagement and Enrollment Services Don Stansberry and Board of Visitors Rector Kay A. Kemper.
The virtual commencement will be followed by a series of in-person ceremonies for the classes of 2020 and 2021, which will be held rain or shine at S.B. Ballard Stadium and will adhere to all public health guidance and state and local regulations. Participants and their guests will be socially distanced and required to wear masks.
President Broderick will speak at the in-person ceremonies, along with Vice President Stansberry, Provost Agho and the deans or interim deans of the colleges: Jonathan Lieb (Arts and Letters), Tammi Dice (Darden College of Education and Professional Studies), Ben Stuart (Batten College of Engineering and Technology), Robert Wojtowicz (Graduate School), Jeff Tanner (Strome College of Business), Gail Dodge (Sciences) and Bonnie Van Lunen (Health Sciences).
Here is the schedule for those events:
Thursday, May 6
10 a.m. - Class of 2020 (Last name A-K, all degree levels)
2 p.m. - Class of 2020 (Last name L-Z, all degree Levels)
Friday, May 7
10 a.m. - Arts & Letters (undergraduates)
2 p.m. - Darden College of Education and Professional Studies and Batten College of Engineering and Technology (undergraduates)
Saturday, May 8
10 a.m. - Advanced Degree Ceremony (All colleges - Masters, Ed.S., DPT, DNP, Ph.D)
2 p.m. - Strome College of Business and College of Health Sciences (undergraduates)
6 p.m. - College of Sciences (undergraduates)
Commencement ceremonies will be streamed live on www.odu.edu for families and friends who are not able to attend in person.
For more information regarding graduation, click on this link.
