Bob Dylan Receives Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music
Bob Dylan has accepted an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music, marking the first time in more than five decades that the legendary songwriter has received such recognition from an American institution. Berklee announced the honor this week, citing Dylan’s “extraordinary influence on modern music” and “lifelong commitment to creative exploration.”
“Thank you, Berklee College of Music, for bestowing on me this prestigious honor. What a pleasant surprise,” Dylan said in a statement. “Who knows what path my career might have taken if I’d been fortunate enough to learn from some of the great musicians who taught at Berklee. It’s something to think about.”
The degree acknowledges Dylan’s singular role in shaping American music over the past six decades, from his groundbreaking folk anthems of the 1960s to his later forays into gospel, country, and blues. Berklee President Jim Lucchese called the moment a milestone for the college. “Bob Dylan’s music has shaped how the world hears itself,” Lucchese said. “He’s an artist who has never stopped evolving, who keeps chasing truth through sound and language. That’s the spirit we try to cultivate here every day. Honoring him feels like a reaffirmation of the creative impulse that built this place.”
Berklee’s American Roots Music Program artistic director Matt Glaser added that the degree also reflects Dylan’s deep connection to the traditions that form the backbone of Berklee’s curriculum. “Bob Dylan has spent a lifetime learning, absorbing, and transforming every American song tradition, and Berklee strives to teach all the music that Dylan loves,” Glaser said. “His immersion in African American blues parallels much of Berklee’s own foundation.”
The honor from Berklee is Dylan’s first from an American university since 1970, when Princeton University awarded him a Doctor of Music degree during a ceremony that would later inspire his song “Day of the Locusts.” The song references the cicadas that swarmed Princeton’s campus that summer, “the locusts sang such a sweet melody”, and captures his ambivalence toward public ceremony.
Dylan reflected on that day in his 2004 memoir Chronicles, writing, “I was glad to get the degree, though. I could use it. The very look and touch and scent of it spelled respectability and had something of the spirit of the universe in it.”
Since then, Dylan has accepted a few formal honors. In 2004, he received an honorary degree from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, but this Berklee recognition marks the first from an American school in 54 years.
Unlike his 1970 Princeton visit, Dylan has no plans to attend any ceremony connected with the Berklee degree. Instead, the college will host a tribute concert on Wednesday titled “Watching the River Flow: A Roots Salute to Bob Dylan.” The performance will feature students, faculty, alumni, and guest artists performing songs spanning his career, including “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” and “Chimes of Freedom.”
The concert will culminate in a unique ensemble rendition of “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” with a hand-selected group of students each performing one of the song’s 20 verses, a nod to Dylan’s lyrical depth and continuing influence on songwriters.
