YouTube channel debuts with video of Oprah's speech to Stanford grads

A YouTube channel from Stanford makes its debut today, featuring Oprah Winfrey's keynote speech at the university's Commencement ceremony on Sunday, June 15. The channel, at http://www.youtube.com/stanford, also includes more than 150 other videos, and Stanford will continue to supply additional content as it becomes available.

The university has drawn from departments and programs across campus and uploaded videos of classes, faculty interviews, panel discussions, seminars and other events in order to showcase the breadth and caliber of academic offerings at Stanford. By launching a channel on YouTube—the leading online video community that allows people to discover, watch and share originally created videos—the university is building upon its efforts to provide online access to free educational content for the Stanford community and greater public.

"Every day, there is something exciting and innovative happening on the Stanford campus. YouTube allows Stanford to share that experience far beyond the borders of our campus with millions of people around the world," said Scott Stocker, the university's director of web communications.

In addition to Winfrey's graduation speech to Stanford's Class of 2008, the channel features videos of courses such as African American History—The Modern Freedom Struggle, taught this winter by history Professor Clayborne Carson, founder of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute.

The channel also carries videos of courses on current research and developments in computer systems, a speaker series on topics related to human-computer interaction and sequences of classes on modern physics taught by Leonard Susskind, the Felix Bloch Professor of Physics at Stanford.

The videos are organized in playlists, such as one for Stanford's Educational Thought Leaders Seminar and another called Medcast, which features events and faculty at the School of Medicine. Videos of other events currently on the channel include the grand opening in March of the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building, and "Courting Disaster: The Fight for Oil, Water and a Healthy Planet," a roundtable discussion hosted by President John Hennessy during 2007 Reunion Homecoming Weekend.

Stanford is among a growing number of universities, including the University of California-Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with channels on YouTube. Because YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips across the Internet and through websites, blogs and e-mail, YouTube is bolstering universities' efforts to reach out and convey what life is like on campus.

"We're delighted to welcome Stanford to the YouTube community," said Hunter Walk, head of product management at YouTube and a graduate of Stanford's MBA program. "Stanford's channel will contribute greatly to the breadth of university courses available to anyone, anywhere through YouTube."

In October 2005, Stanford was the first university to launch a collection of audio and video content in Apple's iTunes U, and the collaboration with YouTube builds upon those efforts.

Stanford welcomes contributions to iTunes and YouTube from across the university. Its channel on YouTube is produced by Stanford's Office of Public Affairs.

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