{"id":101084,"date":"2026-05-20T18:18:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/?p=101084"},"modified":"2026-06-01T14:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T18:21:09","slug":"bennett-college-confers-honorary-doctor-of-arts-degree-upon-hip-hop-icon-mc-lyte-during-historic-centennial-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/bennett-college-confers-honorary-doctor-of-arts-degree-upon-hip-hop-icon-mc-lyte-during-historic-centennial-commencement\/","title":{"rendered":"Bennett College Confers Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree Upon Hip-Hop Icon MC Lyte During Historic Centennial Commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Bennett
Bennett College Confers Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree Upon Hip-Hop Icon MC Lyte During Historic Centennial Commencement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GREENSBORO, N.C. — MC Lyte, born Lana Michele Moorer, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree during the 2026 Centennial Commencement Ceremony at Bennett College on Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m. on the College’s campus quadrangle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The honor was presented before nearly 1,000 graduates, families, alumnae, supporters, and distinguished guests gathered to celebrate Bennett College’s historic Centennial year as a women’s college. During the ceremony, MC Lyte also presented members of the Centennial Class of 2026 with a special commemorative gift in recognition of their achievements and their place in the institution’s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Teresa Hardee, Interim President of Bennett College, was joined by Board of Trustees Chair Cassandra Jones Havard ’78 and Dr. Randall D. Randolph, Chief Academic Officer, in formally conferring the degree during the ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating the Legacy of MC Lyte in Hip-Hop<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A pioneering voice in Hip-Hop, MC Lyte has spent decades shaping culture as a rapper, writer, producer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and advocate. Her groundbreaking career helped open doors for generations of women in music and entertainment, while her work beyond the stage has centered education, youth empowerment, leadership, and social impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was an honor to present this special recognition to someone whose voice has shaped culture and impacted generations,” said Dr. Hardee. “MC Lyte’s influence extends far beyond music. She is an entrepreneur, visionary, philanthropist, and advocate whose work continues to inspire people around the world. We were pleased to celebrate her during this historic Centennial Commencement ceremony.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recognition comes during a milestone year for the artist, who was also recently named a 2026 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Today, she is not only a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee,” Hardee added. “She is also officially a Bennett Belle.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MC Lyte also served as the 2026 Centennial Commencement speaker<\/a>, delivering remarks to graduates during one of the College’s most significant commencement ceremonies in the institution’s 100-year history as a women’s college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 1873 and celebrating its Centennial as a women’s college in 2026, Bennett College continues its legacy of educating and empowering women through leadership, scholarship, civic engagement, and global learning.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GREENSBORO, N.C. — MC Lyte, born Lana Michele Moorer, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree during the 2026 Centennial Commencement Ceremony at Bennett College on Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m. on the College’s campus quadrangle. The honor was presented before nearly 1,000 graduates, families, alumnae, supporters, and distinguished guests gathered to celebrate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[754,230,771,702,729,262],"class_list":["post-101084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bennett-college-news","tag-centennial","tag-commencement","tag-mc-lyte","tag-news-featured","tag-recognition","tag-speaker"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101084"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101089,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101084\/revisions\/101089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}