Rapper and actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges will soon have something that he never obtained: a bachelor’s degree from the university school he attended before becoming a star.
Georgia State University is planning on awarding the metro Atlanta-bred entertainer an honorary bachelor’s degree during its May 4 commencement ceremony.
The state’s Board of Regents approved the university’s plan at a meeting Wednesday.
“We are proud that Chris Bridges got his start at Georgia State,” the university’s president, M. Brian Blake, said in a statement.
Bridges was a Georgia State student in the 1990s, but left after getting a recording contract. He returned to school in 2019 as an artist-in-residence in the university’s Creative Media Industries Institute.
“He has gone on to become a cultural and philanthropic icon, representing Atlanta and giving back in many ways,” Blake’s statement said. “Our students in the Creative Media Industries Institute and law school have benefited from learning from his career and we’re excited to honor him as a member of the Panther family.”
Georgia State officials wrote to the board that Bridges was a deserving recipient because of his entertainment career as a multiplatinum selling artist and his roles in box office hits such as the “Fast & Furious” action movie series.
Bridges also started a philanthropic foundation that has donated to disaster relief in Georgia and other locations and youth-focused programs in the Atlanta area.
The board also approved Georgia Tech’s request to give an honorary degree to Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president and chief executive officer Raphael Bostic.
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