As so many students around the world graduate, we would like to highlight the honorary awards presented to Walt Disney during his lifetime. Walt participated in many commencement ceremonies, but actually only graduated once. Having attended just one year of high school, Walt left his formal education behind in 1918 to serve in the aftermath of World War I as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. Instead of learning from behind a desk, Walt pieced together an education through his own life experiences, using the world as his classroom.
Walt’s extraordinary accomplishments through his informal education caught the attention of several prestigious universities, which awarded him several honorary degrees. Today, we will focus on such honors Walt received in 1938: a Master of Science from the University of Southern California (USC) and two Masters of Arts degrees from Yale University and Harvard University.
Awarding honorary degrees has been a tradition since the Middle Ages, and it remains common among most colleges and universities today in the United States. Honorary degrees represent great achievements for both the honoree and the awarding institution. They are awarded for a variety of reasons, including in recognition of the honoree’s service to the institution and/or society, an outstanding artistic or intellectual achievement, or the honoree’s involvement as an excellent role model to the student population. Those of us familiar with Walt’s story would agree that his receiving of honorary degrees could easily fall under any of those reasons.
USC, Harvard, and Yale awards degrees to Walt all commended him for his contributions to society and the field of animation. Harvard’s president said, “Walt Disney is a magician who has created a modern dwelling for the Muses; his hand controls a multitude of elfish animals who charm all humans by their mirth.” USC’s president spoke of Walt’s achievement in “bringing to youngsters the spirit of innocent childhood, and bringing to oldsters a bit of their second childhood.” In the case of Yale, Walt’s name had been on the list of proposed recipients as early as 1935. Correspondences between administrators and staff at Yale cite Walt as a top choice because he had “done more to endear America to the hearts of foreigners than the entire state department put together, inventing America’s ambassador.” All of the reasons these prestigious institutions granted Walt honorary degrees center around the story we tell about Walt here at the museum—a story that emphasizes his extraordinary creativity and innovation.
Through his legacy, Walt continues to educate and inspire children and adults to learn and continue learning. Whether it is embracing our inner youth, persevering against all odds in order to achieve our goals, or utilizing our curiosity to seek the magic in the everyday, we can learn a lot from Walt. In awarding Walt these prestigious honorary degrees, Yale, USC, and Harvard saw that Walt, through his love of learning, had a lot to teach the world. No textbooks or homework required—all you need is an open mind.
Lizabeth Trobitz
Marketing & Education Assistant