Mitt Romney will be the commencement speaker at Southern Virginia University next month.
Former Massachusetts Governor and Republican Party 2012 presidential nominee will address graduates in front of the university’s Main Hall on April 27 in Buena Vista.
University President Paul K. Sybrowski says Romney also will receive an honorary doctorate.
“Mitt exemplifies what we hope all of our students will become — leader-servants. He was the student speaker at his own college graduation exercises some 42 years ago,” Sybrowsky said in an article on the SVU website.
Romney, an active member of the Mormon Church, had a great uncle who served as one of the church’s first missionaries in Buena Vista, Va., in the 1890s, according to the article. SVU is the only private liberal arts college serving the Latter-day Saints community.