Past CEI director awarded an honorary degree at University of Delaware Commencement ceremony
The University of Delaware recognized six individuals with the awarding of honorary degrees at the University’s Commencement ceremony on May 24.
Among those honored, Lynnette Young Overby, professor emerita of theatre and dance and past director of the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI), received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts.
The honorary degree, the University’s highest accolade, is reserved for individuals who reflect, in their personal and professional achievements, the University’s mission and who serve as exemplars for UD’s students, alumni, the University community and the world.
Overby’s career included work as a grade-school physical education teacher, doctoral student, college professor, author, researcher, national advocate for arts education, choreographer, performer and mentor to numerous students and young faculty members.
Overby earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Hampton Institute and a master’s degree in dance education from George Washington University. She taught in the Washington, D.C., public schools and conducted research there, finding that children developed reading and comprehension skills more successfully when their traditional classroom learning was supplemented with creative movement.
She moved into teaching and administrative positions in higher education and earned her doctorate in kinesiology at the University of Maryland. In 2008, she left Michigan State University to join the UD faculty, as founding faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning.
Overby was the founding director of the dance minor program and also served as deputy director of the University’s Community Engagement Initiative. In April 2021, Overby was nominated for the National Council on the Humanities by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate later that year. This board of distinguished private citizens advises the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Founded in 1965, NEH is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States, supporting research and learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas.
This excerpt is from an article written by UDaily staff published on May 22, 2025. Photo illustration by Jeffrey C. Chase.