U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, will serve as the 2014 commencement speaker, as the university celebrates its 175th anniversary.
According to a Longwood issued press release, more than 900 undergraduate students will receive degrees at the commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 10 and more than 150 students will receive graduate degrees at a ceremony Friday evening, May 9. “Senator Warner embodies the ideals of citizen leadership Longwood strives to instill in our students, from his work championing education as governor to his bipartisan leadership in the Senate,” said President W. Taylor Reveley IV in a Longwood issued press release.
“We are delighted he will be honoring our graduates in this very special year for Longwood.” Sen. Warner has done many great things not only for the state of Virginia, but for Longwood University as well.
According to Reveley in a Longwood press release, Senator Warner has played a key role in the modern history of Virginia’s third oldest public university. We owe no small measure of our strength and prosperity today to the faith he showed in Longwood during his time as governor.
While Warner was Governor he came to Longwood’s campus to sign into law the General Assembly legislation designating Longwood as a “university,” according to Longwood’s press release. That celebration was held on the anniversary of the Great Fire of 2001, which destroyed Longwood’s most famous building, Ruffner Hall and its Rotunda. As the news release states, Warner served as governor from 2002- 06 and was elected to the Senate in 2008. He serves on the Senate Finance, Banking, Budget and Intelligence committees and has been a prominent member of the Senate’s “Gang of Six,” working across party lines to find bipartisan solutions on the issues of debt and deficit reduction.
