Admiral William McRaven to speak at MIT’s 2020 Commencement

Admiral William H. McRaven Image: courtesy of Admiral William McRaven Retired Navy four-star admiral and former chancellor of University of Texas system will address the Class of 2020 on May 29. Admiral William H. McRaven, a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral and the former chancellor of the University of Texas system, will deliver the address at MIT's 2020 Commencement exercises on Friday, May 29. McRaven is a recognized authority on U.S. foreign policy who advised presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama on defense issues. As the chancellor of the University of Texas system from 2015 to 2018, he led one of the nation's largest systems of higher education, with 14 institutions that educated 220,000 students and employed 20,000 faculty and more than 80,000 health care professionals, researchers, and staff. McRaven recently co-chaired an independent task force , charged by the Council on Foreign Relations, on innovation and national security. Among its recommendations, the task force encourages the U.S. government to invest in scholarships and modify immigration policies to enable the country's universities to attract and educate the world's most dynamic talent. A passionate advocate for freedom of the press, McRaven has authored prominent opinion pieces on current affairs - in 2018 in The Washington Post   and in 2019 in The New York Times .