| Baccaulaureate / Class Day / Valedictory Exercises Speaker* | Final Exercises Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Colgate W. Darden, Jr. | |
| 1965 | Robert Kent Gooch | |
| 1966 | Jesse Wakefield Beams | |
| 1967 | Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. | |
| 1968 | Mills E. Godwin, Jr. | |
| 1969 | Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. | |
| 1970 | Baccalaureate was cancelled | Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. |
| 1971 | Kenneth G. Elzinga | Vance Hartke |
| 1972 | Buckminster Fuller | William F. Buckley, Jr. |
| 1973 | James Dickey | Lady Bird Johnson |
| 1974 | Garry B. Trudeau | Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. |
| 1975 | George Garrett | Nancy Hale |
| 1976 | Joseph Sorrentino | Mills E. Godwin, Jr. |
| 1977 | Raymond A. Moody, Jr. | James R. Schlesinger |
| 1978 | James S. Payne | Thurgood Marshall |
| 1979 | Eugene McCarthy | William H. Rehnquist |
| 1980 | Raymond C. Bice, Jr. | Charles L. Brown |
| 1981 | Jeff MacNelly | George Bush |
| 1982 | Virginius Dabney | Pete V. Domenici |
| 1983 | D. Alan Williams | Charles Robb |
| 1984 | Edward M. Kennedy | C. Vann Woodward |
| 1985 | John W. Warner | Frank L. Hereford, Jr. |
| 1986 | Ted Turner | L. Douglas Wilder |
| 1987 | Leslie Gelb | Elizabeth H. Dole |
| 1988 | Sam Donaldson | John P. Stevens |
| 1989 | Alex Sanders** | Gerald Baliles |
| 1990 | Arthur Ashe | Robert M. O'Neil |
| 1991 | Art Buchwald | Nathaniel Howell |
| 1992 | Katie Couric | John Charles Thomas |
| 1993 | Tom Brokaw | John T. Casteen III |
| 1994 | Brit Hume | George Allen |
| 1995 | Marian Wright Edelman | William J. Raspberry |
| 1996 | James Carville | Kathryn C. Thornton |
| 1997 | Wyatt Andrews | Hunter B. Andrews |
| 1998 | Christopher Reeve | James S. Gilmore III |
| 1999 | Sara James | Howard H. Baker, Jr. |
| 2000 | Andy Rooney | Alfred R. Berkeley III |
| 2001 | Timothy A. Koogle | Francis S. Collins |
| 2002 | David Baldacci | Mark R. Warner |
| 2003 | L.D. Britt | Mortimer Caplin |
| 2004 | Atiim Kiambu (Tiki) Barber | John W. Warner |
| 2005 | Ron Suskind | Vivian Pinn |
| 2006 | TomWolfe | Timothy M. Kaine |
| 2007 | Boyd Tinsley | John Grisham |
| 2008 | Sheila C. Johnson | Hunter R. Rawlings III |
| 2009 | Dawn Staley | J. Harvie Wilkinson III |
| 2010 | David Baldacci | John T. Casteen III |
| 2011 | J. Brady Lum | Robert F. McDonnell |
| 2012 | Valerie Ackerman | Katie Couric |
| 2013 | Stephen Colbert | Jim Webb |
| 2014 | Peyton Manning | Ray Mabus |
| ***2015 | Ed Helms | Terry McAuliffe Bob Bruner |
| 2016 | Sarah Drew | Rita Dove Paul Mahoney |
| 2017 | President Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia) | Deborah McDowell Bob Pianta |
| 2018 | Chris Long | Terry Sullivan (Saturday) Terry Sullivan (Sunday) |
| 2019 | Pharrell Williams | B. Cameron Webb Dorrie Fontaine |
| ****2020 | N/A | Melody Barnes |
| 2021 | Jay Pharoah | Alexis Ohanian |
| 2022 | Ralph Sampson | Claudrena Harold Taison Bell |
| 2023 | Jacqueline Novogratz | Carla Williams Louis Nelson |
| 2024 | Ryan Zimmerman | Daniel T. Willingham Risa L. Goluboff |
*From 1971-1978, there was a Baccalaureate speaker. In 1979, there was a Baccalaureate/ Class Day speaker. Valedictory Exercises began in 1980.
**Mr. Sanders is an alumnus and was the parent of a graduating student. He substituted for Pat Conroy, who was unable to get to Charlottesville at the last minute due to weather.
***Until 2015, the University only held one Final Exercises Ceremony. It now holds two ceremonies - one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Each ceremony has its own speaker.
****Due to Covid-19, the University could not hold in-person ceremonies. Instead a modified celebration was held virtually with no keynote speakers. One year later, the Class of 2020 returned to Grounds for in-person ceremonies (a morning and afternoon ceremony), at which Melody Barnes was the keynote speaker. Valedictory Exercises was not held.