CSUMB interim president gives keynote address at Cal State L.A.

Eduardo Ochoa, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education and incoming interim president at Cal State Monterey Bay, addressed the Class of 2012 at Cal State L.A.’s June 16 commencement.

In his address, Ochoa addressed the changing global landscape, and how the most important skill a student must learn these days is the ability to continue learning.

"The most valuable and enduring competency you have acquired is that you have learned how to learn. You’re starting your adult life in a globalized society undergoing rapid and accelerating technological change. In this information age, most of the specific knowledge you have obtained will become obsolete in a few years, with the sum total of human knowledge doubling every two to three years.

In addition, people entering the workforce today are expected to change careers—not just jobs, but careers—five to seven times during their lifetime. So in all likelihood, you will be applying lifelong learning skills you have developed in your college years to acquire knowledge that has not been created yet and to apply it in occupations that do not yet exist."