Dr. Eduardo M. Ochoa as Guest Speaker
HOUSTON (March 27, 2024) – More than 1,600 Gators will graduate in the first commencement ceremony of the University of Houston-Downtown’s (UHD) 50th anniversary year on Friday, May 10, 2024, at NRG Stadium. The esteemed guest speaker for UHD’s 76th Commencement Ceremony is Dr. Eduardo M. Ochoa, who was named Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education by President Barack Obama in 2010. In that office, he served as the Secretary of Education’s chief adviser on higher education issues, oversaw federal student aid policy, and administered more than 60 programs supporting students in the nation’s colleges and universities.
Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Ochoa moved with his family to Portland, Oregon, where he finished high school. He earned a B.A. in Physics with a minor in Philosophy from Reed College and an M.S. from Columbia University in Nuclear Science and Engineering. He worked for three years as an engineer in New York, then returned to graduate school and received a Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research. He taught at Fresno State University and at California State University, Los Angeles, where he became a full professor and Chair of the Economics and Statistics Department. In 1997, Dr. Ochoa was named Dean of Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Business Administration, where he served for six years. He then became Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Sonoma State University.
Following his time in Washington, D.C., Dr. Ochoa served as President of California State University Monterey Bay for ten years before retiring in 2022. In that ten-year period, Dr. Ochoa launched Monterey County Bright Futures, a collective impact partnership; served on the Board of Directors of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership; and helped to solidify CSU Monterey Bay as a regional asset, contributing to the sustainable growth and diversification of the region’s economic base.
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