Complete List of Valedictory & Final Exercises Speakers

	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

*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.