Christopher Newport University Welcomes Governor Mark Warner
to Speak at Winter Commencement
News Release - December 19, 2003
contact:
Margaret O. Yancey
myancey@cnu.edu
757-594-7942
Christopher Newport University is pleased to announce that the Governor of Virginia, the Honorable Mark R. Warner, will be the commencement speaker on January 11, 2004. Winter Commencement exercises will be held at 2:00 p.m. in The Freeman Center on the campus of CNU.“For the first time in the 43-year history of CNU, the Governor of Virginia will deliver a commencement address,” said President Paul S. Trible. “Governor Warner is a champion of higher education and a strong supporter of the transformation of Christopher Newport University and we are honored that he will join us on this special day.”
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Governor Warner earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from George Washington University in 1977, and then went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1980. As the first in his family to graduate from college, Governor Warner will never lose sight of the educational values and ideals that inform his work and demonstrate his unyielding commitment to public education.
“As someone who benefited personally from public schools,” Governor Warner said in his Governor’s Address on January 14, 2003, “I have seen how public education opens the doors of opportunity. Public education lies at the heart of all we do, and all we want Virginia to be. I consider no priority to be higher than support for our public schools.”
Governor Warner is a founding partner of Columbia Capital Corporation, a technology venture capital fund in Alexandria, Virginia, where he helped create more than 70 communications and information technology companies. Warner has been involved in many successful public service initiatives including the establishment of the Virginia Health Care Foundation and the Virginia High-Tech Partnership.
Governor Warner and his wife Lisa Collis have three daughters – Madison, Gillian and Eliza.