Taylor Swift has been selected as the commencement speaker for New York University's graduation ceremony, which will be held at Yankee Stadium this May for the first time since 2019.
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The 11-time GRAMMY Award winner will also receive an honorary doctorate from the institution, earning the official title of Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa.
NYU announced the news Monday in a press release and with an Instagram post showing clips of past commencement ceremonies with Swift's hit single "22" providing the soundtrack to the video.
In their announcement, NYU described the 32-year-old pop star as "one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of her generation" and listed her achievements in her musical career which includes being the only female artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times.
The commencement ceremony honoring the Class of 2022 will be held on the morning of May 18 at the Bronx ballpark.
A second ceremony honoring the Classes of 2020 and 2021 will be held in the evening after both graduating classes had their traditional commencements postponed due to the pandemic.
“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,” said 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.”
Disability rights advocate Judith Heumann will address graduates at the evening ceremony and receive a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Other honorary degree recipients include MIT President Dr. Susan Hockfield, CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, and Harvard professor, author, and journalist Jill Lepore.
The Empire State Building will be lit in NYU violet on the eve of of the commencement as part of the celebration.
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