By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — Fresh off the Hollywood trail, Academy Awards host Alec Baldwin’s next stop will be in New York for a different type of gig.
The “30 Rock” star will be the graduation speaker for New York University’s commencement at Yankee Stadium on May 12, NYU President John Sexton and Board of Trustees Chair Martin Lipton announced to students late last week.
“NYU’s reason for selecting him is straightforward: his enormous talent and success as an actor, and the lessons that offers for the many NYU students passionate about pursuing a career of their own in the cinematic, dramatic, and performing arts,” said John Beckman, a university spokesman.
“NYU’s choice of Mr. Baldwin as an honorary degree recipient preceded his selection as a co-host of this year’s Academy Awards by a considerable period.”
Baldwin, who is a graduate of Tisch School of the Arts, will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the ceremony.
Also receiving honorary doctorates are historian Robert Max Berdahl, Xerox CEO Ursula M. Burns, social entrepreneur Bill Drayton, jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter and sociologist William Julius Wilson.
Baldwin donated $1 million to Tisch in December to establish a fund for promising performing arts students needing financial assistance, titled the Alec Baldwin Drama Scholarship Fund. The scholarship will provide tuition assistance to students beginning in fall 2010.
