--- title: Prince Gets Honorary Doctorate From University of Minnesota description: In the wake of his death, Prince will receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts. canonical: https://time.com/4366863/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-of-minnesota/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-13T19:27:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:33:19.054Z og:title: Prince To Receive a Doctorate From University of Minnesota og:description: The Purple One is now a doctor og:url: https://time.com/4366863/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-of-minnesota/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6ebb1393fc940e2/6988979a524fc049c4df85be/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-minnesota.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: American Idol Season 5 Finale - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince To Receive a Doctorate From University of Minnesota twitter:description: The Purple One is now a doctor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6ebb1393fc940e2/6988979a524fc049c4df85be/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-minnesota.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince Will Receive an Honorary Doctorate From University of Minnesota  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 13, 2016 7:27 PM UTC  (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images) (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)Vince Bucci—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 13, 2016 7:27 PM UTC Get ready to party like it’s 1999 because [Prince](http://time.com/4303584/prince-dead-facts-surprising-unusual-biography/) will be receiving an honorary doctorate from the [University of Minnesota](https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/u-m-award-honorary-degree-prince). In a [post](https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/u-m-award-honorary-degree-prince) on their website, the school voted to award the Doctor of Humane Letters degree to the [late singer](http://time.com/4303558/prince-dead-paisley-park-57/) and [Minneapolis native](http://time.com/4314125/prince-minneapolis-hometown/) (who did not attend college during his lifetime), in order to honor the musician’s “transcendent talent as a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, but also to highlight his remarkable contributions off stage: fostering musical talent, and supporting the local music industry, as well as his influence in the realms of gender identity, fashion and socio-political activism.” Prince’s surviving family members will receive the award later this year. Let’s pour one out for his purpleness and go crazy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4366863/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-of-minnesota/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4366863/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-of-minnesota/"},"headline":"Prince Will Receive an Honorary Doctorate From University of Minnesota","datePublished":"2016-06-13T19:27:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:19.054Z","description":"The Purple One is now a doctor","url":"https://time.com/4366863/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-of-minnesota/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","Prince"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6ebb1393fc940e2/6988979a524fc049c4df85be/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-minnesota.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6ebb1393fc940e2/6988979a524fc049c4df85be/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-minnesota.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American Idol Season 5 Finale - Show","caption":"American Idol Season 5 Finale - Show","creditText":"Vince Bucci—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4366863/prince-honorary-doctorate-university-of-minnesota/","name":"Prince Will Receive an Honorary Doctorate From University of Minnesota"}}]}] ```