Jack White is set to receive an honorary degree from Wayne State University, the Detroit college he attended for a semester in 1994.

The now-globally-renowned rock musician will be on hand at 9 a.m. May 3 at the Fox Theatre to receive an honorary doctor of humane letters, "for his dedication to Detroit and significant contributions to the arts as one of the most prolific and renowned artists of the past two decades," according to a WSU release.

The May 3 ceremony is part of a two-day slate of commencement activities for WSU's latest graduating class of 4,000-plus students. The event is open only to Wayne State students and their families, and White is not scheduled to speak.

Other honorary degrees will also go to Detroit native Florine Mark, CEO of the WW Group (2 p.m. May 2), and social-justice scholar Earl Lewis (2 p.m. May 3).

White was 19 — and still John Gillis — when he spent a fall semester at WSU before dropping out to begin forging his music career, drumming for the band Goober & the Peas and ultimately going on to form the White Stripes with Meg White.

His time on the Wayne State campus was brief. But speaking with the Free Press in 2014, he recalled it as a time of epiphany, realizing he had "the whole world in front of me."

"I remember (at 19) there was a moment in the fall in Detroit, getting out of my car and going to a class at Wayne State and parking on Cass and walking. I just took a really deep breath, and everything was in front of me. I could do whatever I wanted to do. I wasn’t in high school anymore. I didn’t have to mess around with people who were just goofing around in life. I could go to that class, and talk about that, and I could go to this place and build that. I could maybe go to (College for Creative Studies) and learn more about architecture.

"I ended up dropping out of that and doing my own thing ever since then. But there was a moment there where I realized, 'wow, now I am on my own, and I can do it myself.' "

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.