Lin-Manuel Miranda, the 29-year-old creator, lyricist, composer and original lead of the Tony Award-winning musical "In the Heights," will become the youngest honorary doctoral degree recipient in Yeshiva University's 123-year-old history at the University's 78th Commencement, Thursday, May 14, 11 a.m., Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater, 7th Ave. at 32nd St., Manhattan.
Miranda, who grew up in Washington Heights, home to YU's Main Campus, and remains an engaged leader in the local community, will be presented for his degree by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, and hooded by his parents Luis Miranda, a longtime community leader who was a special advisor to Mayor Koch, and Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family and Social Medicine at YU's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
More than 2,000 graduate students in the fields of law, medicine, social work, education, Jewish studies, and psychology, as well as undergraduate students from Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, and Sy Syms School of Business, will be awarded degrees at the Commencement. Honorary degrees will also be conferred upon Rabbi Dr. Jacob Haberman; Sylvia Axelrod Herskowitz, former director of the YU Museum; and Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld of Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills, New York.
Prof. David Shatz, professor of philosophy at YU's Stern College for Women, will deliver the keynote address and receive the Presidential Medallion, the highest honor bestowed on a member of the faculty or administration.
Thursday, May 14, 11 a.m.
WaMu Theater at
Madison Square Garden7th Avenue at 32nd St., Manhattan
