Tim Cook Will Give 2015 Commencement Address at George Washington University

Apple CEO Tim Cook will give the keynote address to graduates at George Washington University this May, the university announced today. Cook will speak on May 17 on the National Mall and was nominated for the honor by students earlier this year. The university also plans to give Cook an honorary doctorate of public service.

timcookgwuniversity

"I am delighted that Tim Cook has accepted our invitation to give this year's commencement address on the National Mall," George Washington President Steven Knapp said. "I know our graduating students will be inspired and enlightened by his reflections on the lessons he has garnered from his distinguished career as a highly effective leader at the forefront of technological innovation."

Cook's last commencement speech took place in 2010, at his alma mater Auburn University. At the time, Cook was Apple's Chief Operating Officer, and he took the opportunity to call working at Apple "the best decision I ever made." He gave a moving speech that emphasized the importance of intuition and how it led him to Apple.

Previous commencement speakers at George Washington University have included actress Kerry Washington, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, First Lady Michelle Obama, former President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush, and Hillary Clinton.

It is not clear if a live stream of Cook's commencement address will be available, but George Washington University does typically share videos of its commencement events on Vimeo shortly after they take place.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
maxresdefault

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options...

Top Rated Comments

joshwenke Avatar
135 months ago
The real presentation starts when Craig get up there.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Donoban Avatar
135 months ago
Bah! College is for chumps.
Take that six-figure lump sum, or, more likely, lump debt,
and go out and get your start in the world.

I bet in most cases, people who do that will be far better off
four or five years down the road than their school-going brethren will be.

College/uni broadens your perspective on the world. You can have your opinion but that's all it is.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
135 months ago
"I know our graduating students will be inspired and enlightened by his reflections on the lessons he has garnered from his distinguished career as a highly effective leader at the forefront of technological innovation."

What a bunch of pedantic bullcrap. Apparently nobody taught this guy about run-on sentences.

That isn't a run on sentence...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RobertMartens Avatar
135 months ago
College/uni broadens your perspective on the world. You can have your opinion but that's all it is.

I'm sure there are other ways to broaden your perspective on the world. Like perhaps going out into the world.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
135 months ago
How do colleges/students bring in big name speakers like this?

Cook will have a hard time outdoing Job's Stanford speech.

Jobs speech was fantastic and pretty much devoid of politics. I have a feeling Cook's won't be.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The Barron Avatar
135 months ago
No way

How do colleges/students bring in big name speakers like this?

Cook will have a hard time outdoing Job's Stanford speech.

This company is now run by Cook & he doesn't need Jobs anymore to compare. Fact is, Cook has grown Apple more & faster than Jobs ever did.

Plus, from everything I've ever read, heard & seen, Jobs was a tough SOB to work for. He loved to put people down & make them feel like s***. Tim Cook does't need to do that.

Cook is a great choice for this honor.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)