Singer will speak at commencement at Yankee Stadium
New York University (NYU) will honor Taylor Swift with an honoree degree an an unprecedented “doubleheader” event honoring the Classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022 on Wednesday, May 18th at Yankee Stadium. Swift will also speak at the event.
A traditional morning ceremony will be held for the Class of 2022, beginning at 11 am., and a combined ceremony for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 — whose celebrations were postponed due to pandemic-related restrictions — will take place in the evening at 6 pm.
“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,” states NYU President Andrew Hamilton. “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.”
Singer, songwriter, producer, and director Taylor Swift will receive a Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, at the morning ceremony and address the graduates and guests on behalf of all the degree recipients for the Class of 2022. An 11-time Grammy winner, Swift is one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of her generation. She is the only female artist in history to win the music industry’s highest honor, the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, three times. Her many awards and distinctions include being the most awarded artist ever in American Music Awards’ history along with being named Artist of the Decade; winner of the BRIT Awards International Female Solo Artist of the Year in 2015 and the Global Icon Award in 2021; and Billboard’s first-ever and only two-time winner of the Woman of the Decade Award. She is the only solo artist this century to have three albums reach No. 1 in one year.
In honor of the graduates, the Empire State Building will be lit in NYU violet on Tuesday, May 17th, the eve of Commencement.
