Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg To Deliver Harvard Commencement Speech

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can finally go up on the stage at an Ivy League school during the commencement program as he was tapped to offer words of wisdom to the graduating class. Zuckerberg, who is known to have quit from Harvard to build his social networking platform, will be featured as speaker during the school's 366th commencement ceremony, set for May 25.

USA Today noted that it is a bit unusual for a university to invite a dropout as speaker for its commencement ceremony. But as Harvard President Drew Faust said in a statement, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has altered social engagement worldwide. He added that, "Few inventions in modern times can rival Facebook in its far-reaching impact on how people around the globe interact with one another."

It has been 11 years since the founder of Facebook quit school, so it is about time for him to go back. Mark Zuckerberg was said to have quit school after his sophomore year, opting instead to move to Palo Alto, California, where he took a shot at his start-up social network dream. Then dubbed "thefacebook.com," Zuckerberg's project is now considered the most popular social network with nearly 2 billion users around the globe.

The irony was not lost on the billionaire. He shared the news on his Facebook page, while talking to Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates. In the video, Mark Zuckerberg asked Gates, "They know we actually didn't graduate?"

Bill Gates also notably dropped out of college and became a commencement speaker at Harvard 30 years after dropping out (2007). It was just in time for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's wife, Priscilla Chan, graduated from the prestigious university.

Boston Globe noted that while the Ivy League schoold basked in the success of the Facebook creator, he was not always welcome on campus. At the start of building the social networking site, he was accused of violating students' privacy and was accused of breaching school security, of which the events were recorded and chronicled in the movie The Social Network.