MEMORANDUM


DATE:	May 14, 1996

TO:		Local Reporters

FROM:	Ida Lee Wootten

RE:		Finals Weekend

The University of Virginia has created a new source of information
for Finals Weekend, which brings more than 20,000 people to
Charlottesville for graduation events.  A Finals Weekend World Wide
Web site has been created at U.Va.'s home page on the Internet.  To
access it, people can click on U.Va.'s home page at
http://www.virginia.edu and then choose "News and Events at the
University."

The site contains information for faculty, students and parents,
including details on parking, services for persons with disabilities
and diploma-ceremony locations.  It also contains biographical
information on Final Exercises speaker Kathryn C. Thornton and Class
Valedictory speaker James Carville.  In addition, it details the
"Inclement Weather Plan" for diploma ceremonies on Sunday in case
severe conditions force Final Exercises to be moved from the Lawn.  

After Final Exercises on May 19, highlights of the weekend's events,
including images and excerpts from speeches, will be available at
the web site.  For more information, call the U.Va. News Office at
(804) 924-7116.  

For other sources of information on Finals Weekend, call the
Graduation Information Line at (804) 982-2908 or University
Relations at (804) 924-3778.

James Carville, the well-known political consultant, will speak on
Saturday, May 18, at Class Valedictory Exercises.  The event will
begin at 11 a.m. on the Lawn.  Rain site is University Hall.

Final Exercises on Sunday, May 19, will begin at 10 a.m. with the
traditional academic procession from the Rotunda.  NASA astronaut
and U.Va. alumna Kathryn C. Thornton will speak.  If weather
conditions are severe, Final Exercises for the College and Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and
Applied Science would start at 10 a.m. in University Hall.