ODU To Award Graduates At S.B. Ballard Stadium

NORFOLK

Captain Janet H. Days, Commanding Officer for Naval Station Norfolk, and Lawrence Weinstein, Ph.D., ODU Professor, will be featured speakers for the 140th ODU Commencement exercises on May 3 and 4.

Nearly 3,000 students will receive degrees during two ceremonies.

Days, a 1999 ODU alumna, will speak at the Undergraduate Ceremony on May 4 for approximately 2,000 graduates. She assumed the post as the 51st Commanding Officer of Naval Station Norfolk in February 2023, becoming the first Black woman to hold that position.

Dr. Weinstein will speak at the Advanced Degree Ceremony for graduate students on May 3 at Chartway Arena. More than 600 education specialists, Master’s and Doctoral degrees will be awarded to participate graduates.

Days graduated summa cum laude from ODU with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and received her commission through the Naval ROTC.

Her previous positions have included Executive Officer of both Naval Station Norfolk and Surface Warfare Schools Command in Newport, Rhode Island.

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“Old Dominion University is excited to welcome Captain Days, a passionate and proud Monarch, as well as an impactful and trailblazing alumna, as our featured speaker this May,” said ODU President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D. “I know that her inspiring message of service will especially resonate with Monarchs as many of our graduates and their family members have military affiliations.”

The Undergraduate Ceremony is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on May 4 at Kornblau Field in S.B. Ballard Stadium.

In the event of inclement weather, undergraduates will receive their degrees at Chartway Arena with ceremony times to be announced 24 to 48 hours beforehand.

Weinstein in the College of Sciences’ Physics Department will continue the longstanding tradition of having a faculty member serve as speaker at the Advanced Degree Ceremony.

He has taught at ODU for more than three decades and focused his scholarly efforts on studying nuclear physics.