Mike Griffin Speaks About Education at UAH

A Sense of Purpose, Fall Commencement Address by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin

“Many people have asked me how I found the time over the years to take those classes while working, raising kids, and amidst the various distractions life brings. The answer is that I don’t watch any television apart from the evening news, an occasional old movie, and a few rounds per year of major-championship golf, my other life-long passion. I’ll never be able to complete a People magazine crossword puzzle, and I don’t know who hosts which TV talk show, or care. I first heard of Saturday Night Live through all the hoopla surrounding their twenty-fifth anniversary. But being ignorant of those things has given me more time to learn, and to apply what I’ve learned, to the physics, engineering, and management challenges of my profession, aerospace. If that makes me a “nerd” or “geek” or a “workaholic”, then it does. I know the conventional wisdom about leading a balanced life, but I have not done it. The people I know who set out to accomplish something meaningful in their careers have not done so either. They too are nerds, geeks, and workaholics. Frankly, I think our society owes a great deal to such people.”