Apple CEO Tim Cook, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai and SJSU President Mary A. Papazian. Photo: Jim Gensheimer.
San Jose, Calif. — San Jose State University was delighted to welcome Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai and Apple CEO Tim Cook for a special discussion moderated by SJSU President Mary A. Papazian, 2 to 3 p.m. Monday, December 16, 2019, in the university’s Diaz Compean Student Union.
“We are pleased to welcome Tim Cook and Malala Yousafzai to campus,” said Papazian. “They have done extraordinary work to empower women around the world.”
In front of a small audience of San Jose State students, faculty and staff members, Yousafzai and Cook discussed the impact of their partnership on expanding access in girls’ education around the world.
In January 2018, Apple and Yousafzai announced a long-term partnership that aims to get more than 100,000 girls into education. The partnership is helping the Malala Fund scale its organization by assisting with technology, curriculum and research into policy changes needed to help girls everywhere attend school and complete their education. Cook also joined the Malala Fund leadership council.
“In some areas, it is very difficult for girls to get to school because of lack of transport. Technology can act as a resource for girls to access schools,” Yousafzai said. “We are really glad to work with a company that can bring their ideas for approaching such a problem.”
Papazian noted that the traditional approach to educational change is through government and NGOs, and asked Cook and Yousafzai how business makes a difference.
“When Steve Jobs founded Apple, he initially said education is a key market for us. The vision was to get a computer in every classroom. That vision expanded,” said Cook. “Education is a great equalizer for people, if you can fix that one, a lot of other issues fall by the wayside. I talked to Malala about the 130 million girls who were not able to go to secondary school, the injustice of it all. If you focused on girls and the family, the whole family benefits in a significant way. It’s exponential.”
Yousafazi said they are hoping to expand the number of champions and activists they are supporting over the next five years and to expand to new countries. The partnership will focus on countries where the number of girls not in school is the highest, where there is the greatest gender disparity.
“In 10 years, the partnership with Malala and Apple will still be thriving,” Cook said. “We will be touching more people and the 130 million will be a lot less.”
Yousafzai asked the audience to imagine this room without the girls and women. “That’s the world you get without education. When you educate girls, it introduces equality, giving them a presence and voice in society,” she said.
This special opportunity came about on short notice. Given final exams, commencement and security needs, SJSU reached out to a diverse group of students about participating in this dialogue. The university will ensure that all students have access to this unique opportunity by making available photos and a recording of the event.
About the Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai is co-founder and board member of Malala Fund. Yousafzai began her campaign for education at age 11 when she anonymously blogged for the BBC about life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Inspired by her father’s activism, Yousafzai soon began advocating publicly for girls’ education—attracting international media attention and awards.
At age 15, she was shot by the Taliban for speaking out. Yousafzai recovered in the United Kingdom and continued her fight for girls. In 2013 she founded Malala Fund with her father, Ziauddin. A year later, Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts to see every girl complete 12 years of free, safe, quality education.
Yousafzai is currently a student at Oxford University pursuing a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
About Tim Cook
Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple and serves on its board of directors. Before being named CEO in August 2011, Tim was Apple’s chief operating officer and was responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.
Prior to joining Apple, Tim was vice president of Corporate Materials for Compaq and was responsible for procuring and managing all of Compaq’s product inventory. Previous to his work at Compaq, Tim was the chief operating officer of the Reseller Division at Intelligent Electronics. Tim also spent 12 years with IBM, most recently as director of North American Fulfillment where he led manufacturing and distribution functions for IBM’s Personal Computer Company in North and Latin America.
Tim earned an MBA from Duke University, where he was a Fuqua Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University.
About San Jose State University
As Silicon Valley’s public university, San Jose State is one of the most transformative universities in the nation. The founding campus of the 23-campus California State University system, San Jose State provides a comprehensive university education, granting bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in 250 areas of study—offered through its nine colleges.
With more than 35,000 students and nearly 4,370 employees, San Jose State continues to be an essential partner in the economic, cultural and social development of Silicon Valley and the state, annually contributing 10,000 graduates to the workforce.
The university is immensely proud of the accomplishments of its more than 270,000 alumni, 60 percent of whom live and work in the Bay Area.