April 17, 1998
							PRESS CREDENTIAL
INFORMATION  
				                        Contact:
Katherine Jackson 
							              (804)
924-3629





MEDIA ADVISORY
U.VA. GRADUATION WEEKEND EVENTS SET FOR MAY 16-17
	The University of Virginia's 169th graduation ceremony will
begin with the traditional and colorful academic procession from the
Rotunda at 10 a.m., on Sunday, May 17. Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore will
deliver the commencement address to more than 25,000 people.
	More than 4,400 degrees -- baccalaureate, graduate and
professional degrees-- are expected to be conferred by U.Va. President
John T. Casteen III.  Following the Lawn ceremony, the 1998 graduates
will receive their diplomas in separate ceremonies organized by each of
the University's 10 schools at various locations around the Grounds. 
        Inclement weather sites for Final Exercises vary according to
schools and departments, with University Hall serving as the rain site
for ticketed guests of the College and Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences ceremony. Gilmore would speak at the 10 a.m.University Hall
ceremony.
	Actor Christopher Reeve, president of the Christopher Reeve
Foundation and chairman of the American Paralysis Association, will be
the keynote speaker at U.Va.'s Valedictory Exercises on Saturday, May
16. He is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. 
	Reeve, who was hospitalized in 1995 at U.Va.'s Medical Center
after a horseback-riding accident, will return at the invitation of the
Class of 1998.
	Inclement weather site for Valedictory Exercises will be
University Hall.
###

        Television reporters should call Sheri Winston, director of
television news, at (804) 924-7550.







U.Va. news online: http://www.virginia.edu/topnews