Governor Mark R. Warner to address VCU Class of 2004

By Malorie Burkett

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner will address graduates of Virginia Commonwealth University during commencement exercises Saturday, May 22, at 10 a.m. at the Richmond Coliseum, 601 E. Leigh Street.

Warner also will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters during the ceremony.

"We are honored to have Governor Warner as commencement speaker," said VCU President Dr. Eugene P. Trani. "He is a champion of higher education and has been a good friend to Virginia Commonwealth University. His considerable achievements in business and public service have served as an inspiration to many. Our graduates have much to gain from his insights."

In the fall of 2002, Warner led a bipartisan, statewide campaign to secure $900 million to help finance urgently needed upgrades, renovations and new construction at Virginia's public colleges and university campuses. The Virginia Higher Education Bond Referendum is providing almost $77 million for critically important projects at VCU that will help the university build and modernize classrooms, laboratories and other educational facilities. 

A graduate of George Washington University and Harvard Law School, Warner was inaugurated in 2002 as the 69th governor of Virginia. Before he became governor, Warner had a successful business career in venture capital.

VCU will award 2,700 professional, graduate and undergraduate degrees during the Spring 2004 commencement activities.  At VCU's fall commencement in December 2003, more than 1,800 degrees were conferred.

VCU also will present the following honors during spring commencement exercises:

• Jay M. and Sondra E. Weinberg of Richmond will be presented the Edward A. Wayne Medal in recognition of their extraordinary service to VCU. The Weinbergs established the Jay M. and Sondra E. Weinberg Undergraduate Scholarship Fund at VCU. Mr. Weinberg also served as rector of the VCU Board of Visitors from 1997 to 1999, and vice chairman of the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals Authority board until 2001.

• Fenton N. and Patricia H. Hord of Raleigh, N.C. also will receive the Edward A. Wayne Medal. The Hords have been long-time supporters of brain cancer research at VCU. They established the F. Norton Hord, Jr. Professorship Fund, which sponsors a brain cancer researcher. The professorship was established in memory of their son and VCU alum, Fenton N. Hord, Jr., who died of a brain tumor in 1991.

• Edward L. Flippen of Richmond will receive the Presidential Medallion, VCU's highest honor, for his significant contributions to the university. Flippen served as rector of the VCU Board of Visitors from 2000-2002. He is a partner at McGuireWoods LLP in the Public Utilities and Energy Group.

• Gov. Warner and Dean Kamen of Manchester, N.H. will be presented with the honorary doctor of humane letters. Kamen, an accomplished inventor and physicist, founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people, their schools and their communities. Each year, VCU has hosted the FIRST Robotics competition for high school students, and the event has inspired students to pursue careers in science and technology.