Governor Timothy M. Kaine to Deliver NSU Spring Commencement Address

Norfolk Va.—The Honorable Timothy M. Kaine, governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, will deliver the keynote address at Norfolk State University’s commencement ceremony, scheduled for 10 a.m., Saturday, May 10 at William “Dick” Price Stadium. The procession will begin at 9:30 a.m. More than 750 students are expected to participate in the commencement exercises.

Kaine was inaugurated as Virginia’s 70th governor on January 14, 2006. He was the first Virginia governor to be inaugurated at the Colonial Capital in Williamsburg since Thomas Jefferson.

Before his election as governor, Kaine was lieutenant governor under former Governor Mark Warner’s administration. He worked with Warner to make unprecedented state spending cuts, including a 30 percent cut to his own salary. He was also a leader in the 2004 effort to reform Virginia's budget. Additionally, he served two terms as mayor of Richmond, where he worked to build Richmond’s first new schools in a generation, cut taxes and slash the city’s crime rate.

As governor, Kaine is focused on four areas where progress is needed to keep Virginia leading the way. These areas include raising public education goals from competence to excellence; finding common-sense solutions to Virginia’s transportation challenges; creating jobs in every part of the state; and giving local governments better tools to serve their citizens.

Kaine is also committed to improving economic opportunity. He has worked with the legislature to eliminate the estate tax, created Virginia’ s first sales tax holiday, taken more than 140,000 low-income Virginians off the tax rolls, and given citizens more information to participate in local decisions about property tax rates. The Kaine administration’s focus on performance management led it to receive top ranking in Governing Magazine’s 2008 “Grading the States” assessment. In 2006 and 2007, Forbes.com named Virginia the “Best State for Business” in the nation.

Kaine is a graduate of the University of Missouri and Harvard Law School. He is married to Anne Holton, a former juvenile court judge and the daughter of former Governor Linwood Holton. They have three children--Nat, Woody, and Annella--who all attend Richmond Public Schools.