Carnegie Mellon University will award honorary degrees to four individuals at its 2025 Commencement) ceremony set for Sunday, May 11 in Gesling Stadium. The recipients will be recognized for their contributions to business, the arts, research and engineering.
Sal Khan, the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, will be the Commencement speaker and receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
“This is a huge milestone in the lives of the students and their families and I’m honored to be a part of it. We are in a time of unprecedented change and uncertainty. I hope I can inspire the graduates to see that the future really is in their hands and they can do incredible good with it,” Khan said.
CMU alumnus Edward Feigenbaum, the Kumagai Professor of Computer Science Emeritus at Stanford University, and Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel Corporation, will also receive Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology degrees. College of Fine Arts alumna Deborah Kass will receive an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.
Sal Khan is the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, a nonprofit with a bold mission: to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Khan started by tutoring his cousins remotely as a hobby.
Over the past two decades, his efforts have grown into a global learning platform used by more than 180 million registered users in more than 190 countries. Khan Academy offers free interactive exercises, instructional videos and teacher tools across subjects like math, science, writing and SAT prep. The nonprofit is also pioneering AI in education with Khanmigo, an AI tool designed to serve as both a tutor and a teaching assistant. In the United States, Khan Academy partners with more than 450 school districts.
In addition to Khan Academy, Khan also founded three additional educational nonprofits:
Khan Lab School, an experimental school in California based on the ideas in his book, “The One World Schoolhouse.”
Schoolhouse.world, which connects students for free, live peer-to-peer tutoring.
Khan World School, an online school for grades 6 through 12 that brings together students from around the globe.
Khan has been recognized as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and featured on 60 Minutes, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox Business and Education Week. In addition to “The One World Schoolhouse,” he is the author of “Brave New Words,” which explores the role of AI in learning and society.
Khan lives in Mountain View, California, with his wife and three children. He holds three degrees from MIT in math, electrical engineering and computer science, plus an MBA from Harvard Business School.
