Google's latest conquest: Commencement speeches

Students in Pennsylvania next week will get a double dose of Google CEO Eric Schmidt: He's scheduled to be the commencement speaker at Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday, May 17 and the next day at the University of Pennsylvania.

Schmidt, a Princeton University and UC Berkeley grad, will pile on a CMU honorary doctorate in science and technology in addition to delivering the commencement address. Schmidt is well-known at CMU, where he has served on the board of trustees.

On Monday May 18, Schmidt will add an honorary Doctor of Science degree to his collection at the UPenn ceremony where he will also deliver a commencement speech. 

Larry Page, Google's cofounder along with Sergey Brin, got Google's commencement speech season going earlier this month when he gave the address at the University of Michigan. He urged new graduates to chase their dreams regardless of how big and crazy their ideas might seem.

"I think it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams," Page told graduates. "I know that sounds completely nuts. But, since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition," he said, referring to his goal of organizing all the world's information.

You can read the transcript of his speech, which features a joke about underwear, the story behind the story of Google and heartfelt memories of his late father, and view a video here. 

(Brin is also no stranger to commencement speech honors, having delivered one to Maryland University grads in 2003)

Other techies on the 2009 commencement speech circuit include Cisco CEO John Chambers, who is set to deliver the address at Santa Clara University in June.

Successful tech executives are popular commencement speakers, with Harvard scoring a Bill Gates coup in 2007 ("I'm a bad influence," he told them; transcript here ) and Whitman College getting William Gates, Sr. as its speaker last year. 

 Steve Jobs delivered a commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005.

Follow Bob Brown at Twitter and read his Alpha Doggs blog to keep up on network research news.