Institution
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Commencement Speeches
28 addresses catalogued from 2000-2026, with links to original sources, videos, transcripts, summaries, and visual speech maps where available.
Featured speeches
High-signal entries
№ 2012.013
Salman Khan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2012
Founder and Executive Director, Khan Academy
Khan Academy founder and MIT alumnus Salman Khan praises MIT for prioritizing principle over profit through initiatives like OpenCourseWare and edX, crediting the Institute as an inspiration for his own work. He celeb...
№ 2002.002
James Wolfensohn
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2002
President of the World Bank
World Bank president James Wolfensohn reflects on his own journey from Australia to MIT decades earlier and argues that the world is no longer a bipolar divide between rich and poor but an interdependent place. He con...
№ 2000.003
Carleton Fiorina
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2000
President and CEO, Hewlett-Packard
Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard and an MIT Sloan alumna, frames life as a journey that rarely follows a logical path, drawing on her own experiences quitting law school and working her way from secretary to CEO....
AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su, an MIT alumna, reflects on her undergraduate and graduate years at MIT, including her UROP research experiences and the development of what she calls an 'engineer's instinct' to break down h...
№ 2025.001
Hank Green
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2025
Science communicator, video creator, and entrepreneur
Hank Green, science communicator and online video creator, addresses MIT's Class of 2025 with humor about his unconventional background before turning to serious advice for graduates entering an unstable world. Drawin...
All speeches
Timeline
2026
Advanced Micro Devices CEO / Speaker / Class of 2026
2025
Science communicator, video creator, and entrepreneur / Speaker / Class of 2025
2024
Flagship Pioneering CEO and Moderna co-founder / Speaker / Class of 2024
2023
Engineer, educator, and founder of CrunchLabs / Speaker / Class of 2023
2022
Poet Laureate of Hawai‘i; special ceremony for Classes of 2020 and 2021 / Speaker / Class of 2022
Director-General of the World Trade Organization / Speaker / Class of 2022
2021
Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative / Speaker / Class of 2021
2020
Retired U.S. Navy admiral / Speaker / Class of 2020
2019
Founder, Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies / Speaker / Class of 2019
2018
COO, Facebook / Speaker / Class of 2018
2017
CEO, Apple / Speaker / Class of 2017
2016
Actor, filmmaker, and co-founder of Water.org / Speaker / Class of 2016
2015
U.S. Chief Technology Officer / Speaker / Class of 2015
2014
Chair and CEO, DuPont / Speaker / Class of 2014
2013
Co-founder and CEO, Dropbox / Speaker / Class of 2013
2012
Founder and Executive Director, Khan Academy / Speaker / Class of 2012
2011
Chairman and CEO, Xerox / Speaker / Class of 2011
2010
Chairman and co-founder, Analog Devices / Speaker / Class of 2010
2009
Governor of Massachusetts / Speaker / Class of 2009
2008
Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Peace Prize recipient / Speaker / Class of 2008
2007
President emeritus, MIT / Speaker / Class of 2007
2006
Chairman, Federal Reserve / Speaker / Class of 2006
2005
Co-founder and CEO, QUALCOMM / Speaker / Class of 2005
2004
Director, National Institutes of Health / Speaker / Class of 2004
2003
Former U.S. senator / Speaker / Class of 2003
2002
President of the World Bank / Speaker / Class of 2002
2001
NASA administrator / Speaker / Class of 2001
2000
President and CEO, Hewlett-Packard / Speaker / Class of 2000