Former congressman Jim Moran will give the keynote address at the 2016 Virginia Tech National Capital Region Commencement Ceremony at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 15.

The ceremony will take place in the Center for the Arts building on the George Mason Campus in Fairfax, Virginia. See the commencement website for details on other ceremonies.

Moran, who served Virginia's 8th congressional district from 1991 to 2015,  is a senior legislative advisor with McDermott Will & Emery and a professor of practice in the School of Public and International Affairs in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech.

In Congress, Moran was a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, served as chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment, was a senior member on the Defense and Military Construction Subcommittees, and served as a member of the Steering and Policy Committee for the House Democratic Leadership.  He was also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Banking & Housing Committee.

As a Member of the Appropriations Committee, he was able to bring billions in economic investment to Northern Virginia to assist underserved communities, build up the region’s transportation infrastructure and create thousands of jobs, particularly in the defense and intelligence communities. He played a major role in funding the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project, Metro to Dulles, widening of Route 1 to Fort Belvoir and construction of numerous local road, bridge, environmental and public transit projects.

This year, Moran was appointed professor of practice in the School of Public and International Affairs in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech, working with programs related to public policy, international affairs, planning and public administration.

Before serving in Congress, Moran was mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, from 1985 to 1990 and was a member of the City Council from 1979 to 1984.

He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Massachusetts, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.  

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