"Little Steven" Steven Van Zandt to be Rutgers' Commencement Speaker

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - He doesn't get more Jersey than this. Steven Van Zandt – better known as "Little Steven" – has been chosen as the 251st anniversary commencement speaker for Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Van Zandt will speak at the May 14 ceremony at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway and will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. Last year, President Barack Obama was the Rutgers commencement speaker. Van Zandt (“Little Steven”) is perhaps best known as an influential member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and for his portrayal of Silvio Dante in HBO’s "The Sopranos." The Rutgers graduation speaker is chosen by students, faculty and staff as part of a year-long process.

Van Zandt grew up in the same New Jersey shore scene as Springsteen and Southside Johnny Lyon, with whom he helped form the Asbury Jukes in 1974. Van Zandt was a member of Springsteen’s early bands, joining the E Street Band in 1975. He worked closely with Springsteen, co-producing The River and Born in the U.S.A., while also producing and writing material for Southside Johnny and Gary U.S. Bonds. In 1982, he branched out as Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul. Although he officially left the E Street Band in 1984, he rejoined it in 1999 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an E Street Band member in 2014.

In 1999, having no previous professional acting experience, Van Zandt was tapped for the role of Silvio Dante in HBO’sThe Sopranos, which he played for all seven seasons of the hit series. In February 2012, Van Zandt co-wrote, was executive producer and starred in Netflix’s first original series, "Lilyhammer."

In 2002, Van Zandt created the internationally syndicated radio show Little Steven’s Underground Garage. He is creator and executive producer of The Underground Garage and Outlaw Country on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Van Zandt has used his worldwide presence to address domestic and international causes. In 1985, he established Artists United Against Apartheid and enlisted other musicians – including Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Hall & Oates, Run-D.M.C., Miles Davis, Bono and Springsteen – to record the album Sun City, which protested South Africa’s policy of racial segregation. That same year, he established the Solidarity Foundation to promote the sovereignty of indigenous peoples. Lamenting the trend of funding cuts for arts education in local schools, Van Zandt established the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation to provide no-cost lesson plans and educational materials to middle- and high-school teachers through its curriculum initiative, TeachRock.org.

LGBTQ and HIV health care advocate Harvey J. Makadon, director of the National LGBT Health Education Center and the National Center for Innovation in HIV Care, also will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree during the ceremony.

The board also announced that Carla D. Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to serve as the U.S. Librarian of Congress, will deliver the keynote address and receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Rutgers University-Camden during the College of Arts and Sciences commencement ceremony at the BB&T Pavilion on May 17.