Taylor Swift will receive an honorary degree from New York University and address graduates during a commencement ceremony in May, NYU announced on Monday (March 28).
The superstar will receive a Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, and speak at NYU’s morning commencement event on May 18 at Yankee Stadium. The degree will be her first, since the former teen star was scoring hits and headlining tours by the time she graduated high school.
The upcoming NYU commencement will honor the classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022 following the pandemic. Disability rights advocate Judith Heumann will also receive an honorary degree and address graduates.
“I cannot overstate how thrilled I am to be coming together in person with graduates, parents, faculty, and honorees for NYU’s Commencement. Since 2019, we have been deprived of Commencement’s festive, communal joy, and its absence has been keenly felt,” says NYU President Andrew Hamilton in a press release. “Few groups of graduates are more deserving of a celebration than these classes: their pursuit of their studies disrupted, isolated by a daunting pandemic, these classes — 2022, 2021, and 2020 — have distinguished themselves with their grit, grace, and forbearance. We reconvene at Yankee Stadium with a renewed sense of appreciation for the act of celebrating together in person, a recognition of our graduates’ enormous achievements, and a respect for their character and perseverance.”
Before receiving the honorary degree in May, Swift will compete for album of the year at the Grammys ceremony on Sunday night (April 3). Evermore is up for the top prize, after Swift’s Folklore became her third career album of the year winner last year.
