VSU Ceremonies To Feature Wilder, Scott

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

Virginia State University will welcome two well-known keynote speakers, former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder and U.S. Congressman Robert “Bobby” Scott, when it holds its commencement exercises on May 11.

Wilder will deliver his keynote address at 9 a.m. He will address graduates from the College of Education and College of Humanities and Social Sciences, according to the university’s website. Scott will deliver his keynote address at 2 p.m., to graduates from the College of Agriculture, College of Engineering and Technology, College of Natural & Health Sciences, and the Reginald F. Lewis College of Business. Both ceremonies will take place inside the VSU Multipurpose Center.

Wilder made history when he was elected as the 66th governor of Virginia in 1989. A building on campus bears his name. Wilder was elected Virginia’s first Black governor since the Reconstruction era. He is currently a professor in the Wilder School at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Scott, meanwhile, made history when he was elected to Virginia’s 3rd  congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993, after serving in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1978 to 1983 and in the Senate of Virginia from 1983 to 1993.

According to Scott’s Congressional website, “His 1992 election to Congress gave Congressman Scott the distinction of being the first African-American elected to Congress from Virginia since John Mercer Langston’s election more than 100 years earlier during the Reconstruction era. Having a maternal grandfather of Filipino ancestry also gives him the distinction of being the first American with Filipino ancestry to serve as a voting member of Congress.”

You may watch Virginia State’s commencement live stream at, www.vsu.edu/graduation.

Congressman Scott