Boston University President Robert Brown announced at the senior breakfast Thursday morning that Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, will deliver the 2012 Commencement address on May 20.
BU spokesman Colin Riley said Schmidt’s success makes him an interesting and timely choice for the graduates of the Class of 2012.
“Mr. Schmidt is someone with an incredible success and brought in one of the most successful companies of all time with his leadership,” he said.
Schmidt, who earned a post-doctorate degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, joined Google in 2001. He served as the CEO of Google from then until 2011.
In 2007, Schmidt was named number one on PC World’s list of the 50 most important people on the Web.
Students said they heard concerns that Schmidt would deliver too technical a speech, but felt that this was not the case.
“All they do is look at his picture and think he looks like a nerd,” said College of Communication senior Melissa Raffalow. “I think that he is going to be a great speaker because being the CEO of such a large company like Google, you have to be able to speak publicly.”
Raffalow said Steve Jobs is an example that technology and science-minded speakers are not worse than others.
“I call up the fact that Steve Jobs gave a great Stanford commencement speech that has been quoted for years and years, and I think [Schmidt] is going to give one of those speeches,” she said.
COM senior Danielle Syrop said students did not expect someone like Schmidt to be announced as commencement speaker.
“Last year they had Katie Couric, so we thought there would be a more recognizable name,” she said.
However, she said she looks forward to Schmidt’s speech and the lessons he has to teach.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “The guy is a multibillionaire, so he’s obviously got some wisdom to bestow on us.”
Syrop said she does not think Schmidt’s speech will be too technical to appeal to the general student population.
“If he offered to do the speech, he obviously has to be comfortable with public speaking and will know how to relate to a group of college students,” she said.
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