Taylor Swift Set To Receive First Honorary Degree From New York University
Taylor Swift will need to make space on her groaning awards shelf for a new type of accolade.
Yesterday, New York University announced that the singer-songwriter will receive her first college degree in the form of an honorary doctorate.
Swift, who has been touring, writing and recording music since high school, will become Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa. The singer has won eleven Grammy Awards over the course of her career, something the university was quick to point out.
“Ms. Swift is one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of her generation,” it said in its statement.
Currently, she is also the only female artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year three times, and was given the Global Icon Award at the 2021 BRIT Awards last year.
As well as receiving the honour on the morning of May 18, she will also be addressing 2022’s delegation of graduates and guests of the university at its commencement exercises at Yankee Stadium.
The pop star will be receiving her degree alongside several other notable names, including disability rights activist Judith Heumann, who will become a Doctor of Humane Letters, and will also be addressing the university’s 2020 and 2021 graduates at an evening event on May 2018.
For NYU students, the award isn’t totally unexpected: last month, the university launched a Swift-themed course, which would cover “Swift’s evolution as a creative music entrepreneur, the legacy of pop and country songwriters, discourses of youth and girlhood, and the politics of race in contemporary popular music”.